Shillong, June 29: In a bank loan fraud case, a special CBI court in Chennai has sentenced B. Muthaiah, the former chief manager of Indian Bank, M. Azeez, the former assistant general manager of Indian Bank, and A. Manohar Prasad, the former joint MD of Gemini Pictures Circuit Private Ltd, to two years of rigorous imprisonment. The court has also imposed fines on the convicted individuals and companies involved.
Muthaiah has been fined Rs 70,000, Azeez has been fined Rs 50,000, and Prasad has been fined Rs 90,000. Furthermore, Gemini Pictures Circuit Pvt Ltd has been fined Rs 9 lakh, and Asian Photo Films Pvt Ltd has been fined Rs 2 lakh.
The case was registered by the CBI in 1998 based on a complaint filed by Indian Bank. The allegations stated that M. Gopalakrishnan, the chairman of the bank, A.V. Shanmugasundaram, the Deputy General Manager (DGM), B. Muthaiah, the chief manager, and M. Azeez, the assistant general manager, conspired with other individuals, including private parties.
It was further alleged that the accused submitted false and forged documents to obtain a loan and subsequently failed to repay it. As a result, Indian Bank suffered a loss of Rs 8.35 crore.
Following an investigation, a charge sheet was filed in 2001. Shanmugasundaram and A. Ravi Shankar Prasad, who were also accused in the case, passed away during the trial, leading to the charges against them being dropped.
