Chennai, August 20
A special CBI court in Chennai has sentenced a former deputy general manager of Bank of India and five others to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in a ₹2.39-crore bank fraud case dating back more than 16 years.
The court also imposed fines totalling ₹2.70 crore on the six convicts, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in a statement on Thursday. The agency did not disclose the individual fine imposed on each of them.
The convicts are former Bank of India deputy general manager N. Venkatachalam; M. Sivakumar, a former record clerk at the Sholinganallur taluk office; T. Dasarathan, who served as village administrative officer at Pazhavanthangal; former village administrative officer M. Manichavelu; and private individuals O.P. Thamarai Poo and P. Thandapani.
The CBI registered the case on May 19, 2010, following a complaint from Bank of India. Investigators alleged that the principal accused, E. Muthuswamy, and others entered into a criminal conspiracy with bank officials to fraudulently obtain credit facilities.
According to the prosecution, the accused submitted false and fabricated documents to secure the facilities and divert bank funds, causing a loss of ₹238.97 lakh to the lender.
After completing its investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet on December 28, 2011, against 12 accused, comprising five public servants and seven private individuals.
Proceedings against V. Umapathy, a suspended senior draftsman in the Land and Survey Department, were separated and are continuing in another case, numbered CC 18 of 2016.
Four private accused — Muthuswamy, A. Vincent, K. Srikanth and M. Jothi — died during the protracted trial, leading to the charges against them being abated. Another accused, Lavanya, was acquitted.
The CBI statement did not specify the offences under which the six accused were convicted or provide details of the loan accounts and properties allegedly linked to the alleged fraud.
