New Delhi, Apr 6 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted searches at several locations in Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Orissa, at the offices of a New Delhi-based private company in a bank fraud case.

It also conducted searches at the residential premises of the company's directors, promoters and their associates after a case was registered, a CBI statement said.

The investigation agency said the private company, through its directors and other staff, fraudulently diverted around Rs 2,348 crore from the loan account of Punjab National Bank (New Delhi and Chandigarh), Oriental Bank of Commerce (Kolkata), IDBI Bank (Kolkata) and UCO Bank (Kolkata) to the accounts of various shell companies "without any obvious purpose and thereby misused the funds".

"It was further alleged that the said company availed various loan facilities from 33 banks and financial institutions during 2007 to 2014 to the tune of Rs 47,204 crore (approx.) and defaulted on repayments. Subsequently, lead bank PNB declared the account as NPA followed by other banks and financial institutions," the statement said.

"It was also alleged that the accused entered into a criminal conspiracy among themselves and with unknown public servants of banks and others to cheat banks/ financial institutions/ government exchequer...

"It was further alleged that accused used the bank funds for the purpose other than sanctioned by the bank, by committing forgery for the purpose of cheating, used forged documents and falsified the accounts causing loss to the tune of Rs 2,348 crore (approx.) to the lending banks/ financial institutions/ government exchequer," it added.

The CBI said that various documents pertaining to the case were recovered during the searches.