Bank manager convicted for loan fraud after 24-year trial

After a nearly 24-year trial, a special court has convicted a former Punjab National Bank manager and three private persons in a loan fraud case and sentenced them to five years rigorous imprisonment, a CBI official said today.

The Tis Hazari court in its recent order also imposed fines ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh on Charanjeet Arora, PNB manager in 1992 when the case was registered, as well as Sushil Kumar Gupta, Narendra Kumar Gupta and Manoj Kumar Gupta, CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said.

He said the CBI had registered the case following allegations that Sushil Kumar Gupta, then director of Pankaj Finance and Leasing Limited (PFLL), and Arora and the other accused entered into a criminal conspiracy with each other.

In 1994, the agency filed a charge sheet in the special CBI court where the case has been going on since.

The CBI found during its investigation that the accused enjoyed a credit of Rs 2 crore from the New Bank of India (which later merged with PNB) branch in Connaught Place and Rs 25 lakh from the Corporation Bank in Karol Bagh.

"The firm allegedly got a loan of Rs 23.94 lakh on forged and bogus documents. It was also alleged that a part of loan was credited in advance against seven vehicles which were already financed by Corporation Bank, Karol Bagh, and the other part was credited on the security of two vehicles without mortgaging the bills and other relevant documents," the spokesperson said.

The CBI added that an advance of around Rs. 8 lakh was also credited to PFLL for financing four vehicles which were also already financed by the same branch of the bank.

Two former bank officials were acquitted by the court and one private person died during the course of the trial, the spokesperson said.