CHENNAI: A CBI court in Chennai sentenced five accused, including a manager of Indian Bank, to rigorous imprisonment and slapped a total fine of Rs 93 lakh in a 2013 bank fraud case.
The convicts have been identified as Ignatius Dheepam, the then manager of Indian Bank, Edaikazhinadu Branch; J Muthiah, the then proprietor of M/s Muthu Enterprises; MN Muralidhar, former propreitor of M/s It’s a Genes Thing, and M/s Geomatrix Trading; Priyalakshmi, the then managing director of M/s Uniquestep Marine India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, and M/s Uniquestep Marine India Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai.
The case was registered by CBI in February 2013 against Dheepam and others on the basis of a complaint by the bank alleging conspiracy and cheating.
Based on the request of Muthiah and Muralidhar, Dheepam had opened four Letter of Credits (LCs) totalling Rs 19.79 crore in favour of one of the Mumbai-based companies represented by Priyalakshmi. The LCs were issued with the forged signature of the then deputy manager of the bank. Dheepam also received a sum of Rs 19 lakh from Muthiah for this, CBI said.