Ramakrishna Raju represents Narsapuram constituency in Lok Sabha.
The CBI has booked YSRCP MP Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, his wife and nine others in connection with an alleged loan default case worth Rs 826 crore in a Punjab National Bank-led consortium of banks by Ind-Barath Thermal Power Ltd, officials said.
Mr Raju and his wife Kanumuru Rama Devi are both directors in the company.
The agency registered the case against Mr Raju, his wife Devi and nine others, including the Secunderabad-based company and its managing director Sitaramam Komaragiri, under Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating, besides provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.
After registering the case, CBI teams carried out searches at around 11 locations in Hyderabad, Mumbai and West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, the officials said.
"It was alleged in the complaint that the accused had cheated the Punjab National Bank (PNB)-led consortium of banks by way of diversion/siphoning off bank funds etc," CBI Spokesperson RK Gaur said.
Mr Raju represents the Narsapuram constituency in Lok Sabha.
The CBI has registered the FIR on the basis of a complaint from PNB alleging that the company had committed fraud during 2014-18 by siphoning off public funds by diversion issued to the company for setting up a 300 MW power plant in Uttara Kannada district, they said.
Due to environmental issues, the project was shifted to Tuticorin, it said.
The members of the 10-bank consortium led by PNB had declared accounts fraud between 2019-20, the PNB complaint, now part of the FIR, said.
The bank has alleged that the company instead of paying debts to the bank, made payments worth Rs 267 crore to related parties during 2014-18, besides this, Rs 41 crore of receivables by the company were also transferred to them.
The company did not provide any documents, reasons or justification for transferring this Rs 300 crore working capital loans given by the banks to related parties, the officials said.
The bank has alleged that diversion of funds was in violation of RBI guidelines.
The company showed the value of the entire coal inventory reduced from Rs 249.67 crore on March 31, 2017 to Rs 2.76 crore on March 31, 2018, the bank alleged.
The board minutes record that the value of coal inventory impaired because it was old and unable to use due to sustained deterioration.
"It is highly unlikely that such a huge quantity of stock had deteriorated within a period of just one year and no steps could be taken to realise the money there against," the bank said.
As per the record, the company was regular in carrying physical verification of inventory, however, it has not furnished documents for physical verification of inventory during 2016-17 and 2017-18, it alleged.
"It is clear that the accused...in connivance with each other or any other person have indulged into diversion of funds, siphoning of funds to detriment of bank with a view to criminal misappropriation and commit fraud upon the bank causing wrongful gain to themselves and wrongful loss to the lenders to the tune of Book outstanding for Rs 826.17 crore as on October 31, 2019 and interest thereon from the NPA date of respective banks," the bank alleged.