CBI court convicts five in bank fraud case

MUMBAI: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has convicted five persons, including the branch manager of Canara Bank for cheating the bank to the tune of ₹164 crore in a credit fraud case

MUMBAI: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has convicted five persons, including the branch manager of Canara Bank for cheating the bank to the tune of ₹164 crore in a credit fraud case. The court also imposed a fine of ₹3.53 crore on the accused.

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As per the prosecution case, businessman Pravin Bharathan, 29, who dealt in computer parts, had obtained credit facilities at the Chunabhatti branch of the bank. Bharathan was helped by Mehul Ghatalia through branch manager SS Mahalingam between October 2001 and February 2002.

The CBI officials claimed that Bharathan was the proprietor of M/s Global Computech, M/s DRC Progressive, M/s German Multitech and M/s Blue Tech. Mahesh Nagarajan was a co-proprietor in Blue Tech.

The agency claimed that on the request of Bharathan and Nagarajan, Mahalingam had sanctioned OCC/trade finance for ₹30 lakh each to M/s German Multitech on October 1, 2001, M/s Global Computech on October 22, 2001, M/s Blue Tech on February 12, 2002 and M/s DRC Progressive on March 9, 2002.

The branch also sanctioned a loan to purchase vehicles for ₹10 lakh each to M/s German Multitech on October 1, 2001, and to Bharathan on October 13, 2001. The bank had disbursed the loan to one Hiten Avlani, claiming to be a car dealer, by way of demand draft. The CBI claimed that the cars were not purchased. Avlani was an aide of Bharathan and money was misused, the agency claimed.

The special court convicted all the five accused in the case.

Bharathan was sentenced to five years in imprisonment with a fine of ₹3 crore. His partner Nagarajan was sentenced to three years in imprisonment with a fine of ₹24 Lakh. Mahalingam was sentenced to two years with a fine of ₹15 lakhs. Avlani was sentenced to two years in imprisonment with fine of ₹14 lakhs, while Ghatalia was sentenced to six months in imprisonment with fine of ₹40,000.