Provogue India files complaint over alleged ₹90 crore fraud:Files cases against Plutus Holding and associates for undervaluing assets and obstructing the company’s insolvency and liquidation process

Provogue India Limited, a fashion and lifestyle company, has complained Plutus Holding and four of its associates for alleged financial fraud and criminal conspiracy amounting to approximately ₹90 crore. The Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered the case, which relates to alleged irregularities committed during Provogue’s insolvency and liquidation process. According to the FIR, Plutus Investment Holding Private Limited and several individuals knowingly undervalued Provogue’s assets, failed to recover major outstanding dues, and deliberately obstructed the liquidation process. These actions allegedly caused significant financial losses to the company and its stakeholders. The complaint names four individuals—Amit Gupta, Sameer Khandelwal, Rakesh Rawat, and Arpit Khandelwal—accusing them of fraud and criminal conspiracy. The directors of Provogue, who were major shareholders and personal guarantors for the company’s loans, continued supervising company operations even during the liquidation process. Amit Gupta accused of irregular export transactions Provogue’s loan account with Union Bank of India had become a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), after which the bank appointed Amit Gupta as Resolution Professional (RP) under the Indian Banking Code. The company was eventually sold to Plutus Investment Holding Private Limited in 2023. The FIR alleges that Amit Gupta, despite being appointed as the RP, executed suspicious export transactions in 2018–19 and 2022–23. The overseas client involved had not cleared earlier dues, with ₹32.71 crore outstanding—an amount never recovered. It is alleged that Gupta ran operations through former employee Sameer Khandelwal, who was in regular contact with ex-director Rakesh Rawat. Deliberate devaluation of Hong Kong subsidiary A major allegation concerns the undervaluation of Provogue’s 100% Hong Kong-based subsidiary, Elite Team Hong Kong, valued at ₹54.72 crore in the 2017–18 balance sheet. The subsidiary owned two properties in Hong Kong, but these were shown merely as “other assets” in a valuation report, allegedly to conceal their true worth. The complaint claims that Arpit Khandelwal, linked to Plutus, sold one of the Hong Kong properties for crores of rupees, further reducing the subsidiary’s valuation. Meanwhile, Amit Gupta allegedly delayed the e-auction process for nearly two years, causing further devaluation of Provogue’s assets. Independent valuers denied key documents The complaint also states that three independent valuers appointed during the liquidation process were not provided with balance sheets and essential documents. This omission allegedly aimed to hide the financial condition of the Hong Kong subsidiary, Elite SKJ, and present an artificially low valuation of Provogue’s overall assets. ​