u2018 RTI showed that police wanted to shut the caseu2019

Continued from page 1 Edeweiss has denied the allegations, but two executives of the company u2014 Amit Agarwal and Rajkumar Bansal u2014 have been summoned by the Economic Offences Wing ( EOW) for a further inquiry in the case.

Aggrieved by the police not registering the FIR and trying to close the case, Chhatwal finally decided to approach Barve.

According to the complaint made by Chhatwal with the EOW, Edelweiss ARC had acquired the financial assets ( loan liability) of Perfect Engineering from the State Bank of India ( SBI).

According to Chhatwal, Edelweiss had taken over a R 287 crore loan of Perfect Engineering, an auto parts manufacturing company, which had been restructured at a value of R 192 crore. The restructuring happens owing to certain events that may lead to devaluation. Chhatwal said, " We made an investment in the company in 2014- 15 based on the representation by Edelweiss executives. We invested R 54 crore ( which included loan and equity). But, later, we realised [ after the death of the engineering company's promoter] that the total asset value of the firm was just R 78 crore, of which R 34 crore were statutory dues. When we studied the case and investigated it further, we saw that Edelweiss had hidden these facts from us. We felt cheated and accordingly approached the EOW,u201d Chhatwal added.

In fact, Chhatwal claimed that a detailed investigation and deep- dive by the police would lead to a bigger scam where public sector banks are being cheated and are victims of this modus operandi.

When contacted, Barve refused to comment on the issue.

While Bansal did not respond to calls, Agarwal answered the call and told us to get in touch with the corporate communication wing of Edelweiss ( see box u2018 Edelweiss saysu2019).

ExpertSpeak An expert in the financial sector, on condition of anonymity, claimed that he cannot comment on this particular case. u201c But, many times equity investors and ARCs are at loggerheads when it comes to closing deals. While financial institutes are looking to raise funds, the equity investor resists it as it leads to dilution of stake, which results in such disputes,u201d the expert added.

u2018 RTI showed that police wanted to shut the caseu2019 Bizman Hitesh Chhatwal says he was forced to approach police chief after getting a u2018 lukewarm responseu2019 from the Economic Offences Wing Edelweiss has refuted all allegations of wrongdoing.

PIC/ Shadab Khan Edelweiss says A spokesperson for Edelweiss said, u201c In March 2014, Edelweiss ARC acquired a debt of Perfect Engineering, an auto component manufacturing company, from SBI, with the intent to revive and restructure the company to keep it going and retain jobs. Unfortunately, the prolonged downturn in the auto industry coupled with the demise of the promoter in October 2018, led to an erosion in the value of the company. Edelweiss is keen on finding a resolution to save the asset through capital infusion from the remaining promoters/ equity investors. Mr Hitesh Chhatwal, has been an equity investor in Perfect Group from 2014- 15 and was brought in by the promoter [ now deceased] of the company.u201d The spokesperson further mentioned that the allegations made by the investor are baseless and without merit and are detrimental to the resolution of the asset.

u2018 Mr Barve patiently heard the case and instructed EOW officials to investigate it. Accordingly, the two Edelweiss executives were summoned for inquiryu2019 Hitesh Chhatwal