SRINAGAR: The CBI on Thursday booked Hilal Rather, the businessman son of former J&K finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather, for a Rs 177-crore bank fraud immediately after taking over the case at the request of the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Hilal, who is accused of diverting business loans taken from the scam-ridden J&K Bank to properties in the US and Dubai, has been in and out of hospitals since he was arrested in Jammu on January 16 and later remanded in judicial custody.

On Wednesday, the J&K high court directed the medical superintendent of Government Medical College in Jammu to constitute a board of doctors from the urology, pulmonary and general medicine departments to examine Hilal, who is said to be suffering from a kidney ailment, and submit a report within two days. It will be the second such assessment of his medical condition on court orders.

Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta specified in his order that Dr Rahul Gupta, associate professor of urology at Government Medical College, should not be included in the board since he authored the first report.

A senior official said the CBI was requested to take over the case on March 2 because it was better equipped than the Anti-Corruption Bureau to probe a case involving illegal purchase of properties abroad with loans taken for a project here. Some of the money was allegedly used to sponsor a T20 cricket team and host shows of a popular standup comic.

"Besides auditors and forensic experts, the CBI has more expertise in handling such a case," the official said.

Hilal had taken loans totalling Rs 177 crore for a township project called Paradise Avenue at Narwal Bala in Jammu in 2012. His father was then finance minister in the National Conference-Congress coalition government. These loans were declared "non-performing assets" in 2017.

