21 years after fraud, court sentences ex-bank manager, Gujarat firm owner to 2 years in jail

Ahmedabad, Sep 2 (PTI) A special CBI court in Ahmedabad on Monday sentenced a former manager of a government bank and a proprietor of a private company to two years in jail in a 2003 bank fraud case.

The court also imposed a total fine of Rs 1.05 lakh on the duo, said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Jeevangine Srinivasa Rao, the then-manager of Bank of India's SM Road Branch in Ahmedabad, and Shrujal Vijendra Patel, proprietor of the city-based firm Aryan Coating, were sentenced to two years' imprisonment in a bank fraud case, said a CBI release.

A case was registered by the CBI against the accused on October 30, 2003, for offences of cheating, forgery, using forged documents as genuine and criminal misconduct. It was alleged the private firm owner availed a credit facility of Rs 25,63,500 from the bank for purchasing machinery from a company also belonging to Patel, and produced bogus sale invoice for the same, said the release.

"The term loan availed from Bank of India (BoI) was parked in the account of the said seller company. Further, collateral security offered by Shrujal Patel against the said loan turned out to be fake," added the central agency.

Patel separately availed a loan of Rs 80 lakh from BoI's SM Road Branch in Ahmedabad in the name of Aryan Coating on the basis of forged/fake documents of collateral security, bogus statement of accounts and inflated stock statements, and also submitted counterfeit receipts for purchase of machinery, according to the release.

Rao was the manager of the branch when credit facility and loan were approved by the bank to Patel's company.

After completion of the investigation by the CBI, a chargesheet was filed on December 23, 2005, against the two accused in a special court. After trial, the court found the accused guilty and sentenced them accordingly, the CBI said. PTI KA RSY