6 get lifer for Rs 2.5 cr bank fraud case

New Delhi: In a rare judgement, a trial court in Mumbai has sentenced six people to life imprisonment, including an Assistant General Manager of Bank of India, for defrauding the public lender off Rs 2.5 crore, officials here said.

One other accused in the case was sentenced to three years in prison, with fines for all seven ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 3,000.

The CBI had alleged that Manoharlal Ahuja and his son Amit, both partners in Swift Service Linings had borrowed Rs 2.5 crore from the bank in a conspiracy with Bhagwanji Dayaram Joshi, then AGM of Bank of India.

All three have been ordered to serve life sentences for their crimes. Manoharlal and Amit along with other members of their company forged documents and falsified information pertaining to approximately Rs 2.4 crore worth of collateral properties.

Officials said that the accused fraudulently got the loans sanctioned for their company with help from officials of the Bank of India branch in Mandvi, Mumbai.

Eventually, the bank declared Swift Service Lining's account with them as NPA in February 2004, following which the probe agency took over the case.

The CBI filed its chargesheet in the case, naming eight accused persons in 2005 with one of them namely G K Sharma having passed away during the trial.