CHENNAI: A CBI court in Chennai on Wednesday sentenced six persons, including four public servants, to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a total fine of Rs 2.70 crore in the Bank of India fraud case. Those convicted include N Venkatachalam, then DGM, Bank of India; M Sivakumar, record clerk, Sholinganallur taluk office; T Dasarathan, VAO, Pazhavanthangal; M Manichavelu, VAO, Tamil Nadu government; OP Thamarai Poo and P Thandapani.
The CBI registered the case on May 19, 2010, based on a complaint from Bank of India. The agency alleged that prime accused E Muthuswamy, a private individual, and others, in conspiracy with bank officials, fraudulently availed credit facilities by submitting forged and fabricated documents and cheated the bank of Rs 238.97 lakh. The CBI filed a chargesheet against 12 accused, including five public servants and seven private persons, on December 28, 2011.
During the trial, four accused, E Muthusamy, A Vincent, K Srikanth and M Jothi, died and charges against them were abated. One accused, Lavanya, was acquitted. The case against suspended senior draftsman V Umapathy, of the Land and Survey Department, was split up.