Chennai: A CBI court in Chennai sentenced a former senior manager of the Central Bank of India in Chennai and the chairman and managing director of a private company to seven years of rigorous imprisonment each in a housing loan fraud case. The court also imposed fines on both the convicts and the company. The judgment was delivered on June 29 by the CBI court. The convicted public servant, Deepak V Menon, who served as senior manager at Central Bank of India, Triplicane Branch, was sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹65,000. B Sivaganesan, chairman and managing director of M/s Sree Sasthru Associates Kadanthetti Pvt Ltd, received a similar sentence along with a fine of ₹1.17 lakh. The company was fined ₹26,000.The Central Bureau of Investigation registered the case on April 29, 2009, based on a complaint from the Central Bank of India. The complaint claimed that 28 housing loans were fraudulently sanctioned and disbursed during 2006 and 2007 using forged and fabricated documents, causing substantial financial loss to the bank.The CBI investigation found that the outstanding dues in the fraudulent loan accounts exceeded ₹5.29 crore as of Feb 2010. After completing the investigation, the CBI officials filed a chargesheet on June 30, 2010, against four accused, including Deepak V Menon, B Sivaganesan, M/s Sree Sasthru Associates Kadanthetti Pvt Ltd , and private individual S. Vaidyanathan.During the trial, S Vaidyanathan died, following which the proceedings against him were abated. After examining the evidence, the CBI court convicted the remaining accused and awarded the sentences.
