SBI graft case: Internal report misses deadline

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An internal panel, constituted by the State Bank of India (SBI) to probe allegations of bribery against its Deputy Managing Director (MD), Shyamal Acharya, failed to submit its report by the deadline, a senior bank official said on Monday.

"The report has not been submitted to the Department of Financial Services (DFS) by the weekend as it was supposed to be done," a senior official said, seeking anonymity.

DFS Secretary Rajiv Takru had last week said the report would be submitted by the weekend, and the government, the majority shareholder, would decide the course of action only after that.

But the official said both MDs were travelling during the week, which delayed the submission of the report. According to the bank sources, senior-most MDs - A Krishna Kumar and Hemant Contractor - are part of the committee. On November 24, the economic offences wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against Acharya, who then headed the mid-corporate group at SBI, after raiding his house in the city, following a tip off.

Private firm executive gets limited protection

A private firm executive, who has been named as an accused along with Shyamal Acharya in a case of alleged graft in disbursal of a loan, was on Monday granted "restricted protection" from arrest for three weeks by a Delhi court.

The court gave "restricted protection" till December 23 to accused Piyoosh Goyal, chairman of Worlds Window Group, for approaching an appropriate court in Mumbai to seek bail.

In the case lodged by the Central Bureau's Economic Offences Wing there.

The agency had recently lodged a case against SBI's Deputy Managing Director Shyamal Acharya, former SBI official K K Kumarah, who had joined Worlds Window Group after leaving SBI as an advisor, and Goyal for offences punishable under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Case was also registered against former SBI official K K Kumarah, and chairman of Delhi-based firm Worlds Window, Piyoosh Goyal. Acharya is alleged to have asked for a bribe of Rs 15 lakh to clear a Rs 400-crore loan proposal of Goyal's firm. According to the CBI, he was given two luxury watches as the first instalment. It has also been reported that assets that might be disproportionate to Acharya's income sources were found during the search of his house.