Former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MlA Bimal lochan Das was on Wednesday sentenced to one-year jail term by the Vigilance Court here in connection with the Baripada Urban Cooperative Bank loan fraud. The court also asked him to pay a penalty.
It was alleged that Das had illegally sanctioned loans worth lakhs of rupees to different persons during his tenure as the bank President from 2003 to 2004. The Vigilance police had registered a criminal case and filed a chargesheet against him after the irregularities were detected during investigations.
During investigations, it was found that Das had sanctioned the loans violating the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and the bank’s rules of business. Besides Das, seven others including some bank officials have been penalised in connection with the case.