CBI court sentences ex-bank official, private firm CMD for 7 yrs in housing loan fraud in Chennai

Chennai, June 30 (IANS) A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Chennai sentenced a former senior bank official, and a private company chief to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in a bank fraud case involving the fraudulent sanction and disbursement of housing loans that caused a loss of more than Rs 5.29 crore to, a public sector bank, Central Bank of India, the agency said on Tuesday.

The court also slapped a fine on the private firm in connection with the case.

The court on Monday convicted and sentenced Deepak V Menon, then Senior Manager of the Central Bank of India’s Triplicane branch in Chennai, to seven years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 65,000.

The court also sentenced B Sivaganesan, Chief Managing Director of Sree Sasthru Associates Kadanthetti Pvt Ltd, to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1.17 lakh. The company was also fined Rs 26,000 in the case.

The case was registered by the CBI on April 29, 2009, following a complaint from the Central Bank of India. In the complaint, it was alleged that 28 housing loans were fraudulently sanctioned and disbursed between 2006 and 2007 on the basis of forged and fabricated documents.

During the investigation, the CBI found that the fraudulent transactions resulted in outstanding dues exceeding Rs 5.29 crore as of February 2010.

After completing the probe, the agency filed a charge sheet on June 30, 2010, against four accused, including bank official Menon, Sivaganesan, the company, and a private individual, S Vaidyanathan.

During the course of the trial, Vaidyanathan died, and the proceedings against him were abated.

After examining the evidence and hearing the arguments, the special CBI court found the remaining accused guilty and awarded the sentences.

In a similar case in 2024, the CBI arrested an absconding accused, M Naga Kumar, alias Tamil Selvan, in Chennai in connection with a Rs 4.66 crore Indian Bank home loan fraud case.

The case, registered in September 2015, alleged that forged documents were used to obtain multiple housing loans. Naga Kumar, one of the borrowers, had been evading arrest since the investigation began and had assumed a new identity.

After a coordinated operation, the CBI traced and arrested him on March 16, 2026. He was remanded to judicial custody.

–IANS

snj/skp