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NEW DELHI: In what appears to be an attempt to go soft on former Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran, being investigated for defrauding IDBI Bank of Rs 600 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation has diluted provisions of the lookout circular issued against him, allowing him to travel out of India.

The circular provisions, top sources told TOI, have been toned down allegedly on directions of the CBI brass despite the investigating officer and concerned head of the Bangalore branch opposing the move.

Also, the investigation of the case was shifted from Bank Securities and Fraud Cell (BS&FC), Bangalore, to the anti-corruption-3 unit in Delhi, apparently to facilitate this change.

The agency had registered a case at BS&FC Bangalore on April 13 this year naming 39 persons and companies, including C Sivasankaran, top management of IDBI Bank at the CMD level M S Raghavan, other former MDCEOs of public sector banks Melwyn Rego, Kishor Kharat and P S Shenoy, and BSE chairman S Ravi.

The then executive director of IDBI B Ravindranath was also named in cheating the bank of Rs 600 crore between 2010 and 2014. The agency had got circulars issued at all airports against those named in FIR. Entrepreneur Sivasankaran, who holds citizenship of Seychelles , sources said, was summoned to India for questioning a couple of times between August 12 and September 1.

The agency’s top brass, instead of ensuring restrictions, reportedly gave oral directions to the concerned investigating officer and head of the branch in Bangalore to write to immigration authorities asking them to water down provisions of the circular against Sivasankaran and others so that they can travelabroad.

Sources claimed that when the IO and Bangalore branch head refused to do so, the probe was shifted to AC-3 unit in Delhi, which wrote to the immigration authorities about changed provisions. TOI sent a detailed email query to CBI but agency didn’t comment on the developments. Sivasankaran, who was the main complainant in the 2G scam related Aircel-Maxis case where former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi were named, is currently out of India.

When TOI contacted him, the person receiving the call said that Sivasankaran was inPortugal. About the watered down circulars, CBI sources said same were justified on the grounds that these officers have to attend conferences and seminars abroad.

The agency has already questioned Rego, Kharat, Shenoy, Ravi and Ravindranath, as first reported by TOI. It has been alleged that two loans worth Rs 322 crore and Rs 523 crore were given to Sivasankaran’s two offshore companies.

CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal had said after registration of FIR that “the loans were granted to (Sivasankaran’s) companies by IDBI Bank at its highest decision-making level, disregarding the existing guidelines”.

