MUMBAI, June 18 -- A special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) court refused to discharge Abhay Lodha, the director of Topworth Steels and Power Pvt Ltd, from a cheating and criminal conspiracy case for allegedly causing losses worth Rs.74 crore to UCO Bank. The FIR was registered against M/s Akshata Mercantile Private Ltd (AMPL) and unknown UCO Bank officials after the company submitted four bills worth Rs.74 crore under Letter of Credit (LC), which were diverted to Topworth Steels. The case was registered based on a complaint by the general manager and zonal head of the public sector bank, alleging that the office bearers of AMPL and certain bank officials cheated the bank to the tune of Rs.74.82 crore. As per the CBI, UCO bank had discounted bills worth Rs.74.82 crore, which was diverted by AMPL to Topworth Group of Companies. One of the receiving companies refused to accept these bills stating that the documents were not as per LC. The bills remained unpaid, causing a loss of Rs.74.82 crore to UCO bank, as per the CBI. The prosecution alleged that the request letters were prepared at the behest of Lodha. The discharge plea observed that Lodha was falsely implicated in the case since he is neither the director nor engaged in the day-to-day affairs of AMPL. Merely because Lodha was the guarantor to the LC does not implicate him in the conspiracy, submitted the defence, adding that there was no evidence to show on record that funds were being diverted. However, the court observed that even if Lodha is not the director of AMPL, the investigating officer had collected material to show that AMPL was a company of the Topworth group, of which Lodha was the chairman. "He has direct control over the business affairs of M/s. AMPL. Throughout the investigation, it was revealed that Mr Abhay Lodha was the prime accused and without his indulgence, the crime could not have been committed," the court stated in an order passed on June 12....