Three sentenced to 2-yr rigorous imprisonment in loan fraud case

New Delhi, June 28

A special CBI court in Chennai has awarded two-year rigorous imprisonment to B. Muthaiah, then chief manager, and M. Azeez, then assistant general manager of Indian Bank, as well as A. Manohar Prasad, then joint MD of Gemini Pictures Circuit Private Ltd, in connection with a bank loan fraud case.

The court, while awarding the sentence, also imposed a fine of Rs 70,000 on Muthaiah, Rs 50,000 on Azeez, and a fine of Rs 90,000 on Prasad.

Additionally, the court imposed a fine of Rs 9 lakh on Gemini Pictures Circuit Pvt Ltd and Rs 2 lakh on Asian Photo Films Pvt Ltd.

The CBI had registered the case in 1998 against the accused based on a complaint from Indian Bank.

It was alleged that M. Gopalakrishnan, chairman of the bank, A.V. Shanmugasundaram, DGM, B. Muthaiah, chief manager, and M. Azeez, then AGM, hatched a conspiracy with other the accused, including private individuals.

It was also alleged that the accused submitted false and forged documents, availed a loan, and failed to repay the same. This caused a loss to the tune of Rs. 8.35 crore to Indian Bank.

After investigation, a charge sheet was filed in 2001. Shanmugasundaram and A. Ravi Shankar Prasad died during trial, and the charges against them were dropped.