BENGALURU: A Special Court sentenced John Michael (43) to five years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 44.10 lakh for impersonating as the personal secretary of then chief minister Dharam Singh. He had cheated three people on the pretext of getting them sites allotted from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) under the CM’s discretionary quota. The convict is a resident of TC Palya.
Terming the act as a white-collared offence which bleeds the nation’s economy as the society at large is the sufferer, Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat ordered him to compensate the victims with the fine. N Sreedharan, the then associate vice-president of a private bank, was awarded Rs 12 lakh, Tapan Bhandari Rs 26 lakh, and his wife Chanda Bhandari Rs 6 lakh. The remaining amount is ordered to be forfeited to the state.
“When the evidence of the prosecution is examined in its entirety, it indicates the act was committed by the accused, hence the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge said.
The Special Public Prosecutor contended that several cases are pending against the accused in other states and also before this court. The act of the accused has to be viewed seriously as he is a snollygoster who was in the habit of cheating and defrauding the public. She prayed the court to impose maximum punishment.
The accused had induced these three people through their common friend Anthony, who was working as a sales officer in the bank where Sreedharan worked, to part with a huge amount on the pretext of getting them BDA sites by impersonating as the PS of the then CM. He collected Rs 11.13 lakh from Sreedharan, Rs 25.23 lakh from Tapan and Rs 5 lakh from Chanda and handed over fake site allotment letters and BDA sale deeds, at a star hotel. Asked how the sale deeds were issued without the signature of the allottees, Michael told them that he used his influence to get the work done.
After handing over site papers in 2010, he went incommunicado, following which, Sreedharan visited the sub-registrar’s office to realise that the documents were fabricated and filed a police complaint. Tapan, who was working in a bank in Saudi Arabia, also filed complaint with the police commissioner in 2011. The case was initially registered by the Ramamurthynagar police before being referred to the CID.