Former Bank of India manager, two others jailed for corruption

A special CBI court here on Monday sent a former senior manager of Central Bank of India and two others to three years rigorous imprisonment for causing loss to the bank by sanctioning housing loan worth Rs 122.48 lakh in the name of 13 borrowers without verifying their credentials. K. K. Chourasia, the Bank Manager, and Vasant Pawase, the then Assistant Manager (credit), were sentenced to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 8,000 each while a businessman, identified as Uday Singh Thakur, the Managing Director of Pitambara Constructions and Developers, was sent to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 6,000.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case under charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating of Indian Penal Code and sections of Prevention of Corruption Act on January 14, 2011 following a complaint from the Regional Manager of the bank. Chourasia and Pawase entered into criminal conspiracy during 2007 to 2009 while working at the Central Bank of India's Arera Hills Branch in Bhopal in collusion with Thakur and others, the CBI said.

"The accused bank officials had processed, sanctioned and disbursed housing loan to the tune of Rs 122.48 lakh in the name of 13 borrowers without verifying their credentials and also not verifying the construction work of the proposed house. They also allowed the siphoning off the funds meant only for its utilization in the construction of the proposed houses, thereby, caused huge loss to the bank," a CBI statement said. After investigation, a chargesheet was filed on September 4, 2012 against the three accused before the special CBI court which convicted them after finding them guilty, it said.