Financial fraud is like murder, rape: CBI Court

Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 15

While stating that financial fraud is like a murder and rape, Dr Sushil Kumar Garg, Special Judge, CBI Court, Chandigarh, has awarded four-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) to a former bank manager and a businessman holding them guilty in connection with an eight-year-old fraud case with a bank.

The accused - Inderjit Singh, former manager of Punjab and Sind Bank, and Tarsem Lal Singla Director of M/s Aakriti Construction - were convicted under Section 120-B read with Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 13 (1) (d) read with Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 420 of the IPC.

Fine imposed

The court also imposed a fine of Rs5 lakh on Inderjit Singh and Rs10 lakh each on businessman Singla and his company M/s Aakriti Construction through its director Singla.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs5 lakh on Inderjit Singh and Rs10 lakh each on businessman Singla and his company M/s Aakriti Construction through its director Singla.

The CBI Court has acquitted another accused, GS Batra, who was also a former bank official. The CBI had registered the case in June 2013 in New Delhi following a complaint received from the manager of the New Delhi branch of the bank alleging a fraud of approximately Rs3.50 crore.

The case was registered against two bank officials - Inderjit Singh and GS Batra – and Tarsem Lal Singla for allegedly cheating under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. As per the FIR, the accused in connivance with each caused a huge loss to the bank by using bogus documents in the name of construction at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh.

It was alleged in the chargesheet that Singla had taken a loan from Punjab and Sind Bank to set up a hospital in Baddi town in Himachal Pradesh by submitting fake documents and in connivance with bank officials, which caused a huge loss to the bank. It was alleged that the fake entries were made by the officials who did not maintain the proper record of the loan file. The CBI had filed a chargesheet in November, 2013.

While counsels of the convicts sought lenient view during the hearings, public prosecutor KP Singh argued in the favour of exemplary punishment in order to check rampant corruption in public life.

The CBI Court said: “The purpose of the sentence is that the accused must realise that they had committed an act, which is not only harmful to society of which they form an integral part but also harmful to their own future, both as an individual and as a member of society. Accused Inderjit Singh and Tarsem Lal Singla have committed economic offences, which are detrimental to financial health of the country. Therefore, financial fraud is like a murder and rape.”