By Abdulraheem Olanrewaju
A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has remanded three Indian nationals and a Nigerian in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service over alleged conspiracy and criminal breach of trust involving steel products belonging to KAM Steel Integrated Company Limited.
Justice Sulaiman Akanbi ordered the remand on Wednesday after the defendants—Lalit Sarwat, Ravi Raghavendra, Gagan Sarswat, and an Ilorin-based dispatch manager, Oniyide Samuel—were arraigned by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The defendants were charged on two counts bordering on conspiracy and criminal breach of trust, contrary to and punishable under Sections 97 and 314 of the Penal Code.
According to the EFCC, the defendants, alongside one Kumar Saroj who is currently at large, allegedly conspired between November 2024 and September 2025 to unlawfully divert steel rebars entrusted to them in their capacity as employees of KAM Steel Integrated Company Limited.
Count one of the charge alleged that the defendants agreed among themselves to commit criminal breach of trust while serving as staff of the company. Count two accused them of misappropriating steel rebars entrusted to them, thereby committing criminal breach of trust.
All four defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.
Following their pleas, EFCC counsel, Cosmas Ugwu, applied for their remand in correctional custody pending trial. However, defence counsel—Ademuyiwa Abe, S. J. Ochai and D. M. Ayuba—filed bail applications on behalf of the defendants, arguing that the offences were bailable.
Opposing the applications, Ugwu urged the court to deny bail, citing the foreign nationality of three of the defendants and the likelihood of flight risk. He also requested an accelerated hearing of the case.
After listening to arguments from both sides, Justice Akanbi adjourned the matter to Friday, December 19, 2025, for ruling on the bail applications and ordered that the defendants remain in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service pending the court’s decision.
