Hyderabad Pharma Firm, Directors Under Scanner Over Alleged Rs 4.29 Cr Loan Fraud

The complaint was lodged by the Chief Manager of SBI's SME branch in Yellareddyguda.

According to the complaint, the accused firm Bioeq Care Pvt Ltd, along with its Managing Director Rohini Shiva Chandra Sekhar and Director R. Mounika, approached the bank in August 2023 seeking financial assistance to set up pharmaceutical manufacturing operations.

The company applied for a cash credit facility of ₹1.5 crore and a term loan of ₹5.15 crore for the purchase of machinery required to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and formulations. After examining the proposal, the Regional Credit Committee of SBI’s Regional Business Office in Banjara Hills approved the loan.

As collateral, the company provided land located in Uskabavi hamlet of Ameenpur in Sangareddy district, which had been transferred through a gift deed. Before sanctioning the loan, bank officials conducted site inspections and obtained legal and valuation reports from empanelled advocates and valuers.

The total project cost was estimated at ₹8.83 crore, of which ₹7.35 crore was allocated for the purchase of machinery. SBI later disbursed ₹4.62 crore directly to machinery vendors as part of the sanctioned loan.

During a post-sanction inspection in October 2024, the company reportedly informed the bank that one of the machines—a lyophilizer (freeze dryer)—had been returned to the supplier due to specification issues. Later, the promoters claimed that three machines had reached the factory in April 2025, but installation had not started as other equipment was yet to arrive.

However, during another inspection conducted on August 25, 2025, bank officials allegedly found irregularities. Some machinery packages reportedly contained scrap materials such as cardboard, sofa cushions, and bricks instead of equipment, while two packages contained second-hand machines in place of new autoclaves.

A valuation report dated August 25, 2025 assessed the machinery available at the unit to be worth only ₹1.24 crore, far below the ₹4.62 crore already disbursed by the bank. According to a recent media report by Hyderabad Mail, the company had earlier planned to begin commercial production by November 30, 2023, with repayment scheduled to start in April 2024, but operations never commenced and the loan account was later classified as a non-performing asset (NPA) on May 2, 2025.

Following this, SBI issued demand notices under the SARFAESI Act and subsequently served possession notices after the promoters allegedly failed to respond. Although ₹1.40 crore had been repaid toward the term loan, the bank alleged that the borrowers diverted funds and cheated the bank. The complaint also names guarantors Anugula Bhupal Reddy and Anugula Mahipal Reddy, accusing them along with the company’s directors of conspiring to defraud the bank.