The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against five individuals, including George Kuruvilla, the former Chairman and Managing Director of Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), in connection with a ₹50 crore loan fraud and bribery case. The chargesheet, submitted to a special court in Mumbai on May 23, 2025, also names BECIL’s former General Manager WB Prasad, former Legal Advisor Ashish Pratap Singh, Prateek Kanakia (CEO and founder of The Green Billions Limited, or TGBL), and TGBL itself .

According to the CBI, in 2022, BECIL officials allegedly conspired to sanction and disburse a ₹50 crore venture loan to TGBL under the pretext of funding a waste-to-energy project for the Pune Municipal Corporation. The funds were disbursed in three tranches: ₹12.5 crore in April 2022, ₹17.5 crore in June 2022, and ₹20 crore in December 2022 .

Investigations revealed that Prateek Kanakia diverted most of the loan amount for personal use and paid ₹3 crore in bribes to George Kuruvilla—₹2 crore in April 2022 and ₹1 crore in April 2023. The accused also allegedly used a forged ₹25 crore performance bank guarantee, purportedly from Punjab National Bank, to facilitate the loan disbursement .

Furthermore, the CBI found that the BECIL officials failed to secure collateral for the loan and did not monitor the end-use of the funds, resulting in a wrongful loss of ₹58.6 crore to BECIL. The original project documents were reportedly destroyed to conceal the fraud .

George Kuruvilla, WB Prasad, and Prateek Kanakia were arrested earlier this year and are currently in judicial custody. The case was initiated following a reference from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in September 2024 .

Sources