The CBI has found no role of any Bank of India (BoI) officers in the conspiracy to pull off the alleged fraud of ₹82.55 crore orchestrated by absconding diamantaire Jatin Mehta, who is accused of siphoning off about ₹4,600 crore from multiple banks, officials said Thursday.
The investigating agency has concluded that the BoI officials did not indulge in any corrupt activity in the scam executed by Mehta and his company, Winsome Diamonds & Jewellery Limited, they said.
The CBI will soon be filing a charge sheet against the jeweller, who is understood to be in London, and his accomplices in the case registered under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, they said.
“No incriminating material in respect of offences under Prevention of Corruption Act has been found against any public servant. Now, prosecution intends to file the charge-sheet only against private persons for the offences under provisions of Indian Penal Code…,” an official in the know of developments said.
The central probe agency had registered the FIR in 2019, alleging that the accused persons, including unidentified bank officials, entered into a criminal conspiracy during 2012-13 and defrauded BoI to the tune of ₹82.55 crore.
The accused got four Standby Letters of Credit issued to overseas bullion banks, Standard Bank PLC and the Bank of Nova Scotia, and a packing credit (short-term loan) from the bank. A Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) is a bank’s guarantee to a third party if the bank’s client defaults on an agreement.
The BoI had sanctioned Winsome Diamond and Jewellery credit facilities of ₹96 crore, which included ₹6 crore fund-based and non-fund-based ₹90 crore through SBLC in 2012-13.
The agency has alleged that the purported buyers controlled by Mehta’s accomplice, UAE-based Haytham Salman Ali Abu Obeidah, in connivance with the jeweller and others, had willfully defaulted their payments, which led to the invocation of SBLCs by the bullion banks, causing wrongful loss of ₹82.55 crore to Bank of India.
Published on April 17, 2026
