Ex-MLA sentenced to imprisonment for one year

Former JMM MLA Bimal Lochan Das was today awarded a one-year prison term in a fraud case by a special vigilance court here.
Special Vigilance Court judge Taraprasad Rath also imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Das, who was convicted under section 420, 120 (B) of IPC and 13 (1) (d) 13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Das, also a former president of Urban Cooperative Bank, Baripada, was convicted for illegal sanction of loans and submitting a false inquiry report on the bank.
The seven persons who had taken loan illegally have also been convicted in the fraud case and sentenced to one-year jail term besides asked to pay a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each.

All the convicted persons, including the former MLA, were released on bail.
Das had sanctioned lakhs of rupees to different persons during his tenure as the president of the bank from 2003-2004. The financial irregularities came to fore after he stepped down from his post, sources said.
Earlier, the police had registered a criminal case and filed a charge sheet against him after an audit team detected irregularities during an investigation in 2005. The audit had found that Das sanctioned the loans violating Reserve Bank of India guidelines.
Das was MLA from Baripada constituency from 2004-2009 as a member of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).