BANK FRAUD: Two ex-officials, 3 others get five-year rigorous imprisonment

A special CBI court here on Thursday sentenced five persons, including two former officials of the State-run Vijaya Bank, to five years of rigorous imprisonment in a 2005 fraud case, which had caused a loss of Rs 1.27 crore to the bank over disbursal of housing loans.

Additional Special Judge for CBI cases B V L N Chakravarthi convicted the bank's then branch manager (Narayanguda branch) P Radha Gopal Reddy and former assistant manager Uday Shankar and three others, and sentenced them to five years of rigorous imprisonment for the offence under IPC section 420 (cheating).

The accused were also convicted under IPC section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and awarded a three-year RI. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on each one of them. Besides, it also convicted the two former bankers under the other relevant sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for varying periods of one to five years and imposed a Rs one lakh fine each on them.

All the sentences will run concurrently.
"The case was registered on November 30, 2005 against P Radha Gopal Reddy and others on the allegation that Reddy and Uday Shankar had conspired with other private persons and defrauded the Vijaya Bank in the matter of sanctioning and disbursal of housing loans to 22 borrowers, in violation of the bank's rules and guidelines, and thereby, caused a wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 1.27 crore to the bank," a CBI release said