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Late Tamil film producer G Venkateswaran, brother of veteran filmmaker Mani Ratnam, has been convicted by the Central Bureau of Investigation special court in the Rs 10.19 crore bank fraud case, 29 years after the case was registered.
On Tuesday, August 26, the court convicted nine accused involved in the crime. However, criminal proceedings against four of them including Venkateswaran were abated due to their death, reports said.
G Venkateswaran of GV Films is the elder brother of director Mani Ratnam. Under the banner of Sujatha Films and GV Films, he produced films like Mouna Ragam, Thalapathi, Anjali and Agni Natchathiram. He died by suicide on May 3, 2003 as he could not repay loans after incurring heavy losses in films.
The CBI had registered a case on October 30, 1996 following a complaint from Central Bank of India’s Nungambakkam branch in Chennai alleging that Venkateswaran and other bank officials conspired during 1988 to 1992 and availed credit facilities and term loan facilities in the names of Sujatha Films Pvt Ltd and GV Films Ltd–represented by Venkateswaran–by producing false documents.
The investigation agency alleged that false documents were produced and bank officials abused their official position to induce the bank to part with its funds in favour of the accused companies and caused a wrongful loss of Rs 10.19 crore to the bank. The chargesheet was filed in December 2000 against nine accused.
The investigation was completed and a chargesheet was filed on December 19, 2000, against the nine accused, including GV Films and Sujatha Films, reported DT Next.