Urea accused remanded to CBI custody

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Saturday remanded Turkish firm Karsan Limited's chief executive Tuncay Alancus and his colleague Cihan Caranci, main accused in the Rs 1.33 billion urea scam, to CBI custody till October 14.

Additional Sessions Judge Ajit Bharihoke took the decision after hearing lengthy arguments on behalf of the CBI and the two accused.

The CBI had sought 15 days's custody of the two executives, who were formally arrested on their arrival in New Delhi from Geneva on Friday evening.

Judge Bharihoke directed the CBI to allow the executives's counsel S K Sharma, Atul Onkar or Tapan Singhal to be present in the CBI office at the time of their interrogation.

The executives have been charged with Sections 409, 420 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (Cheating and Criminal Conspiracy) for defrauding the public sector National Fertiliser Limited.

Their company entered into a contract with the NFL to supply 200,000 tonnes of urea in 1995. The full payment for the urea was deposited in the Pictet Bank in Geneva, Switzerland.

The urea never reached India.

The accused were arrested by Interpol from a Geneva hotel in September 1996. The Indian government sought their extradition soon after. The request, contested by the accused, was upheld by a Swiss court last week.

The officials were brought to New Delhi on Friday evening by a two-member CBI team lead by SP Ashok Kumar.

Among the other accused are former Union minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav's son Prakash Chandra Yadav and Karsan Limited's Indian representative B Sanjeeva Rao.

UNI