Former Indian Bank officials sentenced to 3 years RI in forgery case

CHENNAI: A Special court for CBI Cases, Chennai sentenced former senior officials of Indian Bank to three years rigorous imprisonment after finding them guilty of cheating and forgery.

Aziz, then Chief manager, GV Srinivasan, then Senior manager, Muthiah, then Senior manager and S. Arunachalam, then General Manager, all of Indian Bank have also been imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each apart from the three years Rigorous Imprisonment, an official release from CBI said.

CBI had registered a case on complaint from Indian Bank against the accused on the allegations that the accused, including M/s. Kiran Overseas Ltd. & its Directors; officials of Indian Bank and others had caused huge loss to Indian Bank, Thousand Lights Branch, Chennai by cheating, forgery.

It was further alleged that the accused company, in pursuance of the conspiracy, submitted false and forged documents. The loan amount was released by the officials of Indian Bank without any approval/sanction. The company failed to repay the loan, causing loss of Rs 39.18 crore to Indian Bank.

After investigation, a charge sheet was filed against the accused. During trial, 4 accused public servants of Indian Bank, including the former Chairman and Managing Director died. Hence, the charge against them had been abated.

The court also sentenced Ranjiv Batra and his wife Kiran Batra of M/s. Kiran Overseas Ltd. (both residents of Chennai) to undergo 37 months rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs. 10,000/- each. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000/- each on M/s. Kiran Overseas Ltd., Chennai and M/s. Kiran Overseas Ltd., Delhi.