Eight former KCCB officials booked over missing loan valuation records in Rs 20-Crore hotel financing case
Una/Shimla, Dec 29,
In a development that has put Himachal’s cooperative banking system under scrutiny, Una Police have registered an FIR against eight former officials of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB), including its ex-Managing Director Vinod Kumar, for allegedly removing and tampering with crucial loan documents linked to two large hotel projects of Mandi-based businessman Yudh Chand (YC) Bains. The complaint alleges that valuation papers and internal office noting pages disappeared from the bank’s recovery files for a mortgaged hotel in Manali at a time when these documents were vital to determining the reserve price during recovery proceedings. Bains, who had secured loans aggregating around Rs 20 crore during the previous Congress regime for his Hotel Lake Palace in Mandi and Hotel Himalayan Snow Village in Manali, claims the manipulation of the record was aimed at undervaluing his assets and influencing legal disputes after the accounts were declared NPAs.
Based on his representation to the Superintendent of Police, Una, the FIR has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, invoking serious offences such as criminal breach of trust by a public servant or banker, cheating, disappearance of evidence, criminal conspiracy and abetment. Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC, along with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act including Section 13(1)(a) and 13(2), have also been added.
Those named as accused along with the former MD include Rakesh Sharma, Kuldeep Bhardwaj, Veenu Sharma, Satish Kumari, Surjeet Rana, Dinesh Sharma and Babu Ram, all previously posted in the bank’s administration and recovery setups in Dharamshala.
According to the allegations, the continuity of the bank’s note sheets in the recovery file was deliberately broken to conceal how the reserve price for the Manali hotel property was fixed. The complainant asserts that independent valuations conducted later had assessed both hotel assets at over Rs 220 crore, substantially higher than the loan exposure, and that the missing pages were necessary to establish this before judicial forums.
The case takes place against the backdrop of an earlier vigilance action against Bains himself, where he was accused of diverting loan funds under the Kisan Credit Card scheme. However, he secured anticipatory bail after the High Court observed that the dispute largely appeared civil in nature and that the value of the mortgaged assets adequately covered the loans.
The latest police action now turns focus toward internal accountability within KCCB, as investigators attempt to trace what happened to the missing valuation record, who accessed the files, and whether there was a deliberate effort to distort the bank’s official financial position in the recovery process.
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