9 convicted in ₹1.56 cr PNB loan fraud, senior bank officials jailed

A special CBI court has convicted nine individuals, including three senior officials of Punjab National Bank, in a ₹1.56 crore loan fraud case involving the sanction of irregular loans for the purchase of water jet loom machines.

The court sentenced former Assistant General Manager Gurinder Singh, Chief General Manager K.G.C.S. Iyer and Senior Manager K.E. Surendranath to 22 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of ₹1 lakh each.

According to the prosecution, the accused officials had sanctioned loans running into crores by bypassing due procedures, resulting in financial loss to the bank.

In addition, six private individuals linked to the case have been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment each. Those convicted include Surat-based businessmen Sanjay Patel and Hitesh Domadia, along with Satish Davra, Vaishaliben Davra and Ramilaben Bhakadia.

The court also imposed fines ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh on the private accused. A firm, M/s Jalpa Enterprises, was also penalised as part of the judgement.

The case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which found that the accused had conspired to secure loans through fraudulent means, leading to wrongful losses for the bank.