CBI registers disproportionate assets case against ex-CMD of United Bank

The CBI has booked former Chairman and Managing Director of United Bank of India Archana Bhargava for amassing assets worth over Rs 36 million allegedly disproportionate to her known sources of income.

The agency has alleged that during her tenure at various banks in senior positions between 2004 and 2014, Bhargava amassed assets worth Rs 48.9 million and incurred an additional expenditure of Rs 14.7 million against the income of Rs 27.3 million.

In its FIR, the agency has pegged the alleged illegal assets at Rs 36.3 million, 133.23 per cent over and above her known sources of income.

Bhargava became a Deputy General Manager of Punjab National Bank in 2004 and General Manager in 2008. She worked as Executive Director at Canara Bank from April 1, 20011 to April 22, 2013.

She joined United Bank of India on April 23, 2013 as Chairman-cum-Managing Director, a position she held till February 20, 2014.

The root of the present case lies in a previous corruption case registered against her in 2016 where the CBI had alleged that she obtained "certain amounts" for herself or for a private firm, owned by her husband and son, from the companies to which various credit facilities were extended by the banks where she had worked.

During the searches, the agency had recovered jewellery worth Rs 28.5 million and Rs 10.50 lakh cash from the bank lockers in her name and those of her family members.

In addition, deposits of Rs 54.2 million in her name and family members, Rs 22.6 million in her bank accounts, documents of two properties--a three storey bungalow at Noida and a flat at Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-- and two properties in the name of her family members in Delhi and Mumbai, were found, the CBI had said after filing the corruption case in 2016.