NEW DELHI Reuter: A magistrate ordered two weeks detention for one of India’s top five industrialists arrested on suspicion of multimillion dollar foreign currency violation
Lalit Mohan Thapar 55yearold Chief of country’s fifth largest industrial conglomerate was held last night after finance ministry agent’s raided offices of his giant Thapar Group of Industries and residential premises.
Thapar’s multibillion dollar empire is the largest in Northern India and manufactures paper textiles electrical and engineering goods edible oils chemicals and fibers. It also includes interests in Malaysia Indonesia Thailand Seychelles and Dubai.
Thapar one of the most powerful men to be arrested since government investigators began a controversial series of raids to crack down on tax evasion and foreign currency violations.
S.S. Lal vice President of the Groups Ballarpur paper mills was seized with Thapar. A New Delhi magistrate today ordered the two men to be held for 14 days pending investigation.
A lawyer for the Finance Ministry’s Directorate of Enforcement a Vigilante agency against economic crime which carried out the raids told the magistrate it suspected fraud under the foreign exchange act to a value of 50 million rupees.
He said documents found in the raids indicated the two men failed to repatriate foreign exchange and had launched foreign ventures without permission from the Reserve Bank of India.
The raids and arrests of dozens of businessmen and government officials have caused an up roar in the business community and protests that the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is carrying out anbqanir campaign against it.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 12, 1986
