A Pune-based Special CBI Court on Tuesday sentenced a former chief manager of Canara Bank to five years’ rigorous imprisonment and three others company employees of two private companies to three years of rigorous imprisonment for allegedly defrauding the Bank by way of discounting of 246 bills against Letters of Credit (LCs) issued by it.
The CBI court handed out five years’ rigorous imprisonment to S R Hegde, then Chief Manager, Canara Bank, Deccan Gymkhana Branch, and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him.
The court sentenced Ganesh Kolhe and Ganesh Gaikwad, then Account Assistants M/s. Varron Aluminium Pvt. Ltd. & M/s. Varron Auto Comp Pvt. Ltd., to undergo three years’ rigorous Imprisonment. It imposed a fine of Rs. 1.5 lakh on Kolhe, while the judge levied a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Gaikwad.
The CBI sentenced Manoj S. Salvi, Proprietor of M/s. Ratna Metal Mart to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. one lakh on him.. The Court also imposed a fine of Rs. one crore each on M/s. Varron Aluminium Pvt. Ltd., Pune and M/s. Varron Auto Comp Pvt. Ltd., Pune (both accused in the case).
The CBI had registered the case had on February 23,2017 registered a complaint lodged by the Bank of India in the matter of discounting 246 bills against Letter of Credit (LC) issued by Canara Bank, Deccan Gymkhana Branch, Pune to the tune of Rs.300 crore (approx.).
The Prosecution’s case was that the accused hatched conspiracy and in pursuance of the conspiracy, the Managing Director of both the companies, M/s. VAPL & M/s. VACPL had a fraudulent Letter of Credit (LC) issued on February 29,2016 through the then Chief Manager of Canara Bank, Deccan Gymkhana Branch, Pune.
As part of the conspiracy, 246 forged bills were allegedly submitted in the Bank of India and got the same discounted fraudulently in the name of the other co-accused companies. The money received from these fraudulent transactions were again allegedly transferred to the accounts of M/s. Varron Group of companies and also dishonestly/fraudulently utilized for reducing their earlier liabilities with State Bank of India.
After the investigation, the CBI had filed a charge-sheet against the accused in the Court of Special Judge, CBI Cases, Pune. The Trial Court found the accused guilty and convicted them.