Zee Shares Fall Over 6% as CBI Registers Case Against Subhash Chandra Over Alleged ₹1,322-Crore LIC Housing Loan Fraud

Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd dropped more than 6% on September 7 after it emerged that the Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against promoter Subhash Chandra and others in connection with an alleged fraud involving loans of over ₹1,322 crore from LIC Housing Finance Ltd. The FIR was registered on August 31. 

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The stock closed the session at ₹85.78, down more than 6%. The selling spread through the sector. The Nifty Media index lost nearly 3%, with Zee the heaviest drag, followed by PVR Inox and Sun TV, which fell 6% and 4% respectively. 

What LIC Housing Finance has alleged 

The case originates in a complaint from LIC Housing Finance, which alleges that Chandra, together with the borrowing companies and their directors, obtained loans from the home financier on the strength of false and inflated net-worth documents. The CBI has booked the case under provisions covering criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal breach of trust, among other offences. 

Two loans are at the centre of the complaint. 

The first, for ₹500 crore, was sanctioned in March 2018 to Vasant Sagar Properties Pvt Ltd and Pan India Infraprojects Pvt Ltd for business expansion. Chandra provided a personal guarantee. 

The second, for ₹480 crore, went to Digital Subscriber Management and Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd and Spirit Infrapower and Multiventures Pvt Ltd in August 2018 under a rental discounting facility. This too was backed by Chandra's personal guarantee. 

The net-worth certificates 

According to the complaint, the March 2018 loan was approved partly on the basis of a certificate submitted by Chandra putting his net worth at $6.2 billion, or ₹59,113 crore, as of March 31, 2017. The August 2018 loan relied partly on a separate certificate that stated his net worth at ₹40,562 crore. 

Both facilities later went into default. LIC Housing Finance's complaint puts the outstanding amount at ₹570.50 crore on the Vasant Sagar loan and ₹507.25 crore on the Digital Subscriber loan. 

The complaint further states that during personal insolvency proceedings, Chandra disowned the figures in those certificates. He reported his net worth in 2024 at ₹31.79 crore and stated that it had never exceeded ₹40,000 crore, even in 2017-18. 

On that basis, the lender has alleged that Chandra colluded with the borrower companies and their officers and directors to induce it to advance the money, that false documents were prepared to present an inflated net worth, and that the borrowers went on to misappropriate the funds. 

Who has been named 

The CBI has listed the following as accused: Subhash Chandra; Vasant Sagar Properties and its director Pankaj Suroliya; Pan India Infraprojects; Digital Subscriber Management and Consultancy Services and its director Amish Pandya; Spirit Infrapower and Multiventures and its director Rajeev Dholakia; along with unknown others and unknown public servants.