Fresh from its crisis of over Rs 12,600 crore of bank fraud by Diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksy, public sector Punjab National Bank (PNB) continues to be under the cloud of another fraud and this time as a party to the consortium of banks.

According to a formal complaint lodged by the deputy general manager of public sector Canara Bank to the CBI superintendent of police, Kolkata, the consortium of 17 banks, which also includes the PNB, has alleged that the city based company RP Infosystems- Manufacturer and Trader of desktops and laptops under the brand name “Chirag”, has defrauded them to the tune of Rs 515.15 crore by availing bank fund on the basis of “fabricated and inflated” stock statements.

The complaint that was lodged with the CBI reads, “The said borrower company dishonestly and fraudulently did not route the sale proceeds through the loan account and siphoned off the entire amount. The said borrower company also inflated its receivables”.

With Diamantaire Nirav Modi continuing to elude the CBI, probing the over Rs 12,600 crore bank fraud flouting its advisory to join the probe, the premier probe agency got cracking on the company as it conducted raids at the registered office and homes of the company directors in connection with alleged Rs 515.15 crore Canara Bank default.

Other than PNB, the consortium includes SBI, Canara Bank, OBC, Central Bank, Allahabad Bank and Federal Bank. In the consortium of banks, Canara Bank, SBI, Central Bank and PNB have highest exposure.While Central Bank has a Rs 82 crore exposure, while for PNB it is Rs73 crore and Canara Bank Rs 81 core end.

The homes of directors of the company which came under the agency raid included Shivaji Panja, Kaustav Ray and Vinay Bafna while home of vice president ( finance) Debnath Pal was also raided, a source close to the agency said.

Interestingly, during the fag end of the Left rule, Panja and Ray by dint of their close relations with the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had lapped up contracts of supplying computers. In 2011, after Mamata Banerjee came to power toppling the Left government, the duo warmed up to Ms Banerjee for the same venture.