Bank manager, businessmen among 7 sent to jail

Seven persons, including the manager and cashier of the Punjab National Bank branch at Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, were today sentenced by a CBI court here to one year's rigorous imprisonment for sanctioning loans to 'non existent' employees of firms some 15 years ago.
CBI's Anti Corruption Branch, Chennai, had filed a charge sheet before the Special Judge for CBI cases here against 11 persons and estimated the loss caused to PNB at Rs 2.08 crore.
The prosecution case was that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to cheat the bank and two industrialists had colluded with some employees of their units and applied for loans from the bank, seeking Rs 25,000 for 834 applications in 1999.

Investigations revealed that the applications were submitted on behalf of 'non-existent' employees by using forged salary slips and other documents.
C Padmanaban, Additional district and sessions judge and special judge for CBI cases, who delivered the verdict, also slapped a fine of Rs 3,000 on each of them.
Three persons were acquitted, while another died during the course of the trial and the charges abated.
All the 11 persons were charged under Sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467, 468 (forgery), as well as other sections of the IPC.