3 convicted in 1996 GV Films fraud tied to Mani Ratnam’s late brother

CHENNAI: Nearly 30 years after the CBI has registered a bank fraud case against G Venkateswaran of GV films, the CBI court here has convicted three persons and charges were abated against four, including Venkateswaran, as they had expired.

The convicted persons are TR Venkatraman, branch manager of Central Bank of India in Nungambakkam, P Swaminathan, branch manager, Central Bank of India, and K Srinivasan, a private person. The first two were convicted for 9 years while the last one was for 6 years.

GV, brother of well-known movie maker Mani Ratnam, died by suicide in Chennai in May 2003. R Srinivasan, bank accountant, R Viswanathan, bank’s regional manager and T S Ramachandran, chief manager, had died during the trial.

The CBI had registered the case on September 30, 1996, based on a complaint from the Central Bank of India, Nungambakkam branch, on the allegation that G Venkateswaran, and others, along with public servants of Central Bank of India, had conspired together during 1988-1992 and availed credit facilities and term loan facilities in the names of Sujatha Films and GV Films.

Venkateswaran, representing GV Films, defrauded the bank by producing false documents. And, the bank officials too abused their official position and induced the Central Bank of India to part with its funds in favour of accused companies. This led to a wrongful loss of Rs 10.19 crore to the bank.

After completing the investigation, a charge sheet was filed on December 19, 2000, against the nine accused, including GV Films and Sujatha Films.