A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Madurai sentenced a former manager of Syndicate Bank to seven years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) in connection with a bank loan fraud case on Monday, June 19. The special court has also punished fourteen others involved in the case with three years of rigorous imprisonment and fines.
A CBI press release said the special court’s Additional District Judge in Madura, sentenced Gunaseelan, a former manager (Scale-II), of the Syndicate Bank main branch in Dindigul, to seven years of RI with a fine of Rs 75,000. Fourteen others who were involved in the fraud case were penalised with fines ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000.
The CBI court awarded three-year RI to 14 of the accused. While Paul Johnson and A Kumaresan have to undergo three years RI with a fine of Rs 20,000 each, Jesuvin Febi has been sentenced with three years RI and a fine of Rs 30,000. R Mahalingam, C Arumughan, Raja Thomas, R Murali, R Thirupati, G Thangarajan, R Vadamalai, A Jesuraj, Sharun Rashit, P Theradimuthu and S Sundaresan will undergo three years RI with Rs 60,000 fine each. .
CBI registered a case against Gunaseelan back in 2010 after receiving a complaint from Syndicate Bank regional office in Coimbatore. The regional office accused Gunaseelan of sanctioning and and releasing housing loans amounting to Rs 155.79 lakh to ineligible borrowers. Eventually, those loan accounts turned into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) for the bank. The prosecution alleged that Gunaseelan conspired with private persons to cheat the bank where he was working. After an investigation, a charge sheet was filed in 2012 against the accused. The trial court found all 15 guilty and convicted them.