The Central Bureau of Investigation conducted coordinated searches at six locations across West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand in connection with an alleged ₹1,109 crore bank fraud involving M/s Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd, Bhubaneswar. According to the agency, the company is accused of defrauding Canara Bank by misusing various fund-based and non-fund-based credit facilities, and investigators seized several incriminating documents that will now undergo detailed forensic and financial examination.
What the CBI Alleges
The CBI alleges the company manipulated the value of its stock, inflated trade receivables and falsified its financial statements to secure enhanced credit facilities from the bank, practices investigators say enabled it to obtain higher credit limits and resulted in substantial financial losses to Canara Bank. The agency further alleges loan proceeds were subsequently siphoned off and diverted for purposes other than those originally sanctioned.
Investigators are separately examining allegations that the company resorted to evergreening of loan accounts, artificially keeping borrowings appearing regular to conceal the true financial position of the accounts from the lender. This technique, common in larger corporate loan fraud cases, typically involves rolling over near-default accounts using fresh credit specifically to delay classification as a non-performing asset.
Where the Raids Took Place
The searches were carried out under warrants issued by the Court of the Special Judge, CBI, Bhubaneswar. Investigators searched the residential premises of four accused directors of the company in Bhubaneswar, alongside the company’s registered office in Kolkata, West Bengal, and its manufacturing facilities in Kashipur in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district, Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu, and Bhubaneswar in Odisha.
Several incriminating documents, financial records and other material evidence were recovered during the operation, which the agency will examine to verify whether the company’s financial disclosures, stock statements, trade receivables and use of bank credit were manipulated or falsified.
A Company Already on One Bank’s Fraud Register
Gupta Power Infrastructure has faced fraud allegations from a different lender before this case. Bank of India reported to the Reserve Bank in February 2025 that it had declared a ₹226.84 crore non-performing account linked to the company as fraud, making provisions of ₹212.62 crore against the exposure. That earlier declaration by a separate bank suggests the financial irregularities now under CBI investigation with Canara Bank may reflect a broader pattern across the company’s various banking relationships, rather than an isolated dispute with a single lender.
The case also fits a broader pattern the CBI’s Bank Securities and Fraud Branch has pursued aggressively this year. Earlier this month, the agency searched multiple premises across Maharashtra and Gujarat in two separate bank fraud cases worth over ₹231 crore, one involving R L Jewels Ltd and a complaint from SBI, and another involving Ashapura Garments Ltd and a complaint from a Canara Bank-led consortium, in which credit sanctioned for textile operations was allegedly diverted into unrelated commodity trading. Both cases relied on the same core allegations now seen in the Gupta Power matter: manipulated stock valuations, diverted loan proceeds and falsified financial disclosures used to draw larger credit lines than the underlying business justified.
What Investigators Do Next
Experts in economic offences note that large banking fraud investigations of this kind commonly centre on exactly these elements, inflated stock values, overstated receivables, falsified statements and diverted loan funds, with banking records, statutory audit reports, digital evidence and forensic audits playing a decisive role in tracing the movement of funds and identifying potential beneficiaries.
The CBI is now analysing the seized documents and digital evidence to reconstruct the alleged transactions and determine the complete flow of funds. The agency has indicated that if further evidence emerges, additional individuals or entities may be brought under the case’s ambit as the investigation continues.
