Sachin Dev Duggal has not been booked in any criminal case. He has not been named in any FIR, ECIRorChargesheetandheisnotanaccusedin anycriminalproceedings.
The ED allegedly sent summons to Mr. Duggal through official channels toassistitasa‘witness’in said investigation. Mr Duggal is yet to receive these summons through the official MLAT process. Nevertheless, the ED petitioned the issuance of warrants for Mr Duggal to appear on said summons.
For this reason and because Mr. Duggal is not involved in any transactions which form the subject matter of enquiry into the affairs of Videocon Group, Mr Duggal has challenged in the Delhi High Court, the orders of a Delhi Court issuing these warrants. As such, statements in the article that the DelhiHighCourthasapprovedtheED’spetitionarefalseandmisleading.
With reference to loan transactions between Videocon Group entities andentities associatedwithMr Duggal during the period from 2008 to January2012.Thesefundswereobviously not,andcouldnot be, the funds loaned by banks to Videocon subsequently, inApril2012,whichare beinginvestigated by the ED Once this simple fact is understood, it’s easy to see why Mr Duggal has nothing to do withtheallegedactivitiesoftheVideoconGroupwhicharecurrentlyunderinvestigation
It is also critical to note that none of the funds loaned by Videocon to entities associated with Mr Duggal weretransferredoutofIndiaandsaidloanswerefullyrepaidinJanuary2012,wellbeforethe loansto theVideoconGroupbySBIthatarebeinginvestigatedeventookplace.
As for Mr. Saurabh Dhoot, he has been namedinaChargesheetinMarch2023inadifferentcriminal investigation into loans by ICICI Bank totheVideoconGroup.Mr.Duggalhasnothingwhatsoeverto do with this investigation Builderai, founded by Mr Duggal in late 2015, operates independentlyof Mr Saurabh Dhoot, who has no role in the company's management or leadership Mr Dhoot’s affiliation with Builderai which started in late 2018 had already ceased in December 2022, long before he was named in the chargesheet After his departure, Mr Dhoot had no role, advisory or otherwise, in the strategic direction of Builderai, including in financial matters such as fundraising activities,suchasthe SeriesDfundingavailedbyBuilderai