Chennai, Sept 1
Nearly two decades after the case was registered, a special CBI court in Chennai has convicted a steel trading firm and six individuals in connection with a ₹2.68-crore bank fraud.
The court, which delivered its verdict on August 31, found M/s Jailani Steel Traders and six people — S. Amurudheen, L. Vijayalakshmi, M. Shanthi, S. Kamatshi, M. Sivakumar and M. Ravichandran Babu — guilty of offences linked to the fraudulent availing and diversion of bank credit.
Amurudheen was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment, while the other five convicts were each handed six months’ rigorous imprisonment. The court imposed a combined fine of ₹60,000 on the six individuals and directed the company to pay an additional ₹20,000.
The CBI registered the case on April 21, 2008, following a complaint from United Bank of India. Investigators alleged that the firm and the other accused had conspired to fraudulently obtain various credit facilities by submitting false and fabricated documents.
The sanctioned funds were subsequently diverted or misappropriated, causing a wrongful loss of ₹2.68 crore to the bank, the prosecution said.
Following an investigation into the loan documents and financial transactions, the agency filed a chargesheet on June 23, 2009, against the company and 13 individuals. The trial remained pending for several years before culminating in the latest verdict.
Proceedings against four accused — Jailani Beevi, A. Srinivasan, N. Manoharan and S.G. Sekar — were abated following their deaths during the trial.
The court acquitted former United Bank of India branch manager S.R. Gnanasekar and private individual M. Chakravarthy after finding insufficient grounds to convict them. P.B. Sampath Kumar, a lawyer empanelled by the bank who was also named as an accused, had earlier been discharged from the proceedings.
The judgment concludes the 18-year-old prosecution, with Amurudheen receiving the longest custodial sentence among those convicted.
