The Special Judge for CBI Cases, Coimbatore, C. Padmanaban on Friday sentenced a branch manager and a cashier of Punjab National Bank along with five others to one year rigorous imprisonment in a bank loan fraud case filed by CBI in the 2002.
In a release, the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of CBI, Chennai, said that the accused made the bank incur a loss to the tune of Rs. 2.08 crore. The manager of the bank’s Naal Road Branch in Dindigul, S. Janardhanan, and cashier V. Palanichetty had connived to get loans to the tune of Rs. 25,000 each towards purchase of household items and got it sanctioned in the names of 834 non-existing employees of a few private firms by preparing and submitting forged pay slips in 1999.
After inquiry, the CBI registered a case against them. On hearing the case Mr. Padmanaban sentenced Janardhanan, Palanichetty and their accomplices Govindasamy, Managing Director, Guruvayoorappan, manager, and an employee Balasubramanim of Jagdeesh Textiles, Udumalpet, and Lakshmipathy Raju Proprietor, Annai Electricals , Udumalpet, and K. Subramanian of Pollachi, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year. A fine of Rs. 3,000 each was also imposed on them.
The judge also acquitted three of the accused M.S .Velu, Managing Director of Karthik Paper Mills, Pollachi, his relative Uma Shankar and an employee of the mill Govindasamy from the case.
The charges against one of the accused Pillaithambi Gounder were dropped following his demise when the trial was under way.
