BENGALURU: Refusing to show leniency for the accused, in a case involving the issue of banker’s cheques by accepting the demonetised currency, the Special Court for CBI Cases sentenced the head cashier of a nationalised bank and a leading agent of LIC in Hosapete to four years simple imprisonment.
S Gopalakrishna, head cashier of Dam Road Branch of State Bank of Mysore (SBM) in Hosapete and KS Raghavendra, an LIC agent, are the accused. Gopalakrishna allegedly issued 107 banker’s cheques of Rs 50,000 each in favour of LIC to Raghavendra, by accepting the demonetised currency of Rs 500 and 1,000 though he was not authorised to do so. Raghavendra submitted the deposit challans in the name of different people.
While sentencing both the accused, Judge HA Mohan directed them to pay a fine of Rs 2.10 lakh and Rs 1.60 lakh each respectively. The court noted that Gopalakrishna had clandestinely received specified bank notes with malafide intentions in furtherance of criminal conspiracy with Raghavendra and made the other officers in the accounts branch prepare and issue 107 banker’s cheques. This cannot be simply ignored by the court of law when the Government of India issued a notification for the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes with the main object of eradicating black money, with effect from November 9, 2016, the court added.
The court observed that the accused, who were well-educated, should be aware of the conditions imposed in the notification. But, to defeat the purpose of the notification, they tendered the specified bank notes and accordingly, banker’s cheques were prepared. At that stage, immediately the bank conducted the enquiry and ordered to withhold the banker’s cheques and thereby the bank has been able to prevent the illegal attempts made by accused persons, the court said.
The CBI, Bengaluru, registered the case under the provisions of IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act after the higher authorities of the bank filed the complaint about the transaction held from November 15 to 18, 2016, in violation of the guidelines issued by the RBI and the notification issued on November 8, 2016.