Eight, including former Minister convicted of bank fraud by CBI court

Eight people, including the chief manager of an Indian Overseas bank branch and former AIADMK minister Dr Ammamuthu Pillai, have been convicted by a CBI court in defrauding the bank to the tune of Rs 1.58 crore. Judge S Ganesan sentenced the chief manager Balasubramanian along with another accused Kalyana Sundaram to seven years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and imposed a fine of Rs 8.2 lakh on the duo.

Six others were sentenced to three years RI. The accused, including a Siddha doctor, were charged with obtaining a building loan by producing fake documents with the connivance of the bank official in 2004-05.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the case in 2009. Dr Ramalakshmi had taken the loan by producing fake documents to build a hospital and the bank official entered into a conspiracy for sanctioning the loan.