Lucknow, March 10 – A Special CBI Court in Lucknow on Tuesday sentenced four individuals to eight years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for a ₹6.75 crore bank fraud in Uttar Pradesh, along with a fine of ₹70 lakh each, according to an official.
The Special Court convicted Ramji Mishra, Shyamji Mishra, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, and Manishi Pandey, all private individuals, according to a CBI statement.
The court also found two private companies guilty in the case. The two companies are: Manishi Enterprises, Varanasi, and Mirzapur Carpets. The court imposed a combined fine of ₹2 crore on the two companies, it said.
The CBI registered the case on March 13, 2001, against S. N. Verma, then Branch Manager of the Central Bank of India, Mirzapur, and others, on the allegations that Mirzapur Carpets availed credit facilities from the Bank's Mirzapur Branch in 1996 using forged documents.
At the time of the alleged offense, Ramji Mishra was its Managing Director, and Shyamji Mishra and Akhilesh Kumar Mishra were its Directors, according to the CBI.
After completing the investigation, the CBI filed a combined chargesheet on March 17, 2004, against seven accused and two firms.
The chargesheet named Verma, the then Branch Manager, Yadu Nath Dubey, Pankaj Kumar Tiwari, Manishi Pandey, Ramji Mishra, Shyamji Mishra, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, Manishi Enterprises, through its main Executive Partner, and Mirzapur Carpets, through its Managing Director, for causing wrongful loss amounting to ₹6.75 crore to the bank using forged bills.
The Special CBI Court, after the trial, convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly. Verma, the then Branch Manager and Yadunath Dubey (Private Person) have been acquitted of all the charges on the ground that evidence of criminal conspiracy is not found on their part, according to the CBI.
The case has been separated against accused Pankaj Kumar Tiwari on medical grounds, it said.