MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by the managing director of Manapuram Finance, VP Nandhakumar (70), seeking to quash a notice issued by the CBI summoning him for inquiry in a case in which an office assistant Marimuthu from Punjab National Bank (PNB)'s Pudukkottai branch stole 1,842 sovereign gold jewels from the bank and pledged it in Nandhakumar's firm.
A perusal of the order, passed by Justice KK Ramakrishnan, revealed that based on the bank's complaint, Pudukkottai police had initially registered a case in 2019 and had informed the same to the Pudukkottai branch of the finance firm. Despite the same, the firm had auctioned the jewels on the basis of the approval given by Nandhakumar in March 2023.
Following a petition filed by PNB seeking CBI probe, the high court bench had transferred the investigation to CBI in January this year. The CBI issued a notice to Nandhakumar on November 8, asking him to appear for inquiry. Seeking to quash it, Nandhakumar had filed the petition.
Nandhakumar stated that his firm has 3,500 branches across India, and he has no enduring memory about the individual transaction of the jewels pledged by the said Marimuthu. Citing age, health issues and the issuance of notice under CrPC instead of BNSS, he requested the court to quash the notice.
However, the CBI special public prosecutor contended that the CBI issued summons only to collect materials from him. The petitioner is duty bound to appear and to co-operate with the investigation, he said. Accepting this, Justice Ramakrishnan dismissed the petition.