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CBI grills Mesco Group chief

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The Central Bureau of Investigation is questioning Rita Singh, managing director of the Mesco Group of Companies, who was arrested by sleuths on Saturday at her farmhouse in Delhi.

Rita Singh would be produced before the CBI's designated court on Wednesday after her police remand is over. She was remanded to four days of police custody by the duty magistrate.

"The CBI registered a case against the Mesco group in 1998. FIR no 1/1998 was registered on the basis of the information that the top brass of the group had manipulated accounts and were siphoning off money and duping financial institutions, banks, shareholders and the public. A team led by deputy inspector general of police O P Galotra was constituted to look into the matter and investigate further," said a CBI official.

CBI conducted a series of raids on the office premises of the company in Delhi, Madras, Bombay and elsewhere and seized a number of documents.

"The Mesco group consists of six companies, including Mideast Integrated Steel Limited, Mideast India, and Mesco Airlinkers. The process of investigation was slow, but eventually we found enough evidence to arrest Rita Singh's husband J K Singh and Deepak Singh, her nephew, last month. On the basis of some of the statements made by the accused and other evidence available Rita Singh was finally arrested," said CBI sources.

Rita Singh first came into the limelight when she started a helicopter service that was widely used by political parties, including the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

However, what attracted the CBI's attention towards Rita Singh and her group was her lavish lifestyle.

"The family lived in a five-star hotel for an entire year from 1995 to 1996. Her bill during this stay was more then Rs 11 million. She cleared the bills of the hotel before she moved out to her farmhouse in south Delhi. Another thing that came to light during the investigation was the money spent on the pet dogs by the Singhs.

Scrutiny of the accounts of the company showed that the money spent on the dogs was being paid from the company accounts. What surprised us was the daily expenses on the dogs," said an officer of the CBI.

Rita Singh, her husband and her nephew have not been able to give a proper account of Rs 1.30 billion spent by the company in various deals.

Rita Singh, meanwhile, is reported to have told CBI sleuths that she or her companies have not committed any financial irregularity.

Attempts to contact top officials of the company to get their version proved futile.

Rita Singh had contested from the Ghaziabad constituency in the 1998 polls to Parliament as a Congress candidate, but lost the elections.

Money