Two BoB officials among three get 7 years in jail in loan fraud case

A special CBI court here Thursday sentenced three persons, including two former officials of Bank of Baroda (BoB), to seven years in jail for providing credit facility of over Rs 1 crore on the basis of forged documents.

The court held then senior manager at the bank Manohar Jadhav, then joint branch manager Lalchand Verma and one Nargis Diventry guilty under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy).

Special CBI judge S R Tamboli also imposed a fine of Rs 6.20 lakh each on the two bank officials, while Diventry was ordered to pay a fine of Rs 16 Lakh.

The fine amount will go to the bank, said the court.

The CBI had lodged a case against eight persons in 2009 with regard to the fraud.

Main accused Vanraj N Shah alias Vijay Seth and another accused died in the course of the trial.

The court acquitted Shah's wife and another person giving them the benefit of doubt, while another accused was discharged earlier.

According to the prosecution, Shah, who supplied raw material to heavy industries, obtained a credit facility of Rs 1 crore from Bank of Baroda with the help of the accused bank officials in 2007-08.

He offered his stock and raw material as a collateral by allegedly submitting forged documents. The bank officials did not verify the security, the Central probe agency alleged.

Diventry had obtained a car loan from the bank using a forged document where Shah stood as a guarantor.

Special public prosecutor R S Mahamane said the prosecution examined 33 witnesses during the trial.