A Delhi court has sent a former State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) Chief Manager and another person to four years rigorous imprisonment for cheating the bank to the tune of over Rs two crore.
Special CBI Judge Ram Parkash Pandey convicted 65-year-old Sri Kant Chawla, who was the Bank's Chief Manager, and 61-year-old Rakesh Kumar Vij, proprietor of a private firm, under Sections 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and for obtaining pecuniary advantage by corrupt means under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on each of them.
The court, however, gave the benefit of doubt to co- accused Raj Bal Tyagi, Dhiraj Prasad and Bhupinder Pal Singh Bakshi and acquitted them.
"The convicts have cheated the SBBJ (a public sector bank) by using forged documents, bogus surety and forged title deeds. Chawla abused his financial powers to extend undue pecuniary advantage to remaining convict at the cost of public money and Vij reaped the benefits of the fraud to the extent that his loan account was overdrawn by Rs 37.75 lakhs without there being any actual business carried on by him," the judge said.
"It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that Chawla, Virender Kumar Syal (absconding) and Vij entered into a criminal conspiracy to do an illegal act of cheating the SBBJ, Nangal Raya Branch, Delhi," the court said in its judgement.
CBI in its charge sheet had alleged that on January 8, 2005, Davis Cornet International, a garments and jewellery export company, owned by one Virender Kumar Syal, had applied for loan under 'SBBJ Sulabh Vyapar Rin Yojana' which was sanctioned by Chawla. The documents submitted by the firm's official were forged and fabricated, it said.
Chawla, while functioning as Chief Manager of SBBJ's Nangal Raya Branch, had sanctioned cash credit limit to Davis Cornet International and Davis Cornet Fashions Pvt Ltd, also owned by Syal, and Rakesh Kumar Vij's Ess Vee Exports, CBI said.
