CHENNAI: The CBI court in Chennai has sentenced five people, including a former bank manager and private firm executives, to rigorous imprisonment ranging from 5 to 7 years for their roles in a Rs. 19.79-crore bank fraud.
According to the agency, Ignatius Dheepam, former manager of Indian Bank's Edaikazhinadu branch in Chennai, received the seven years' jail and Rs 2.1 lakh fine for orchestrating the fraud. J Muthiah of Muthu Enterprises and MN Muralidhar of It's a Genes Thing and Geomatrix Trading, were each sentenced to five years' imprisonment with fines of Rs 45,000.
Priyalakshmi, the former managing director of Uniquestep Marine India, Mumbai, was given 7 years' jail and Rs 50 lakh fine, while the firm was fined Rs 40 lakh.
The CBI registered the case on February 13, 2013, following the bank’s complaint. Investigations revealed that when he was the manager of the branch in 2012, Dheepam conspired with Muthiah and Muralidhar to issue four fraudulent Letters of Credit (LCs) worth Rs 19.79 crore in favour of Priyalakshmi's firm.
The LCs were allegedly approved using forged signatures of the then deputy manager T Shanmuganathan and a counterfeit bank seal. The LCs were later discounted at the State Bank of India's Fort Branch (Mumbai) based on Dheepam's fraudulent authorisation, causing significant losses to Indian Bank.
Dheepam received Rs 19 lakh between November 1–30, 2012, from Muthiah's account at Indian Bank's Tambaram West Branch.
After a decade-long probe, the CBI filed a charge sheet on December 31, 2023. The XI Additional District Judge for CBI Cases (Chennai) convicted all accused persons.