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Special CBI Court judge Digant Vora in a landmark judgment sentenced the Indian Overseas Bank’s former senior manager Preeti Sahjwani to seven years of imprisonment and a fine of over ₹15.06 crore in the case of serious betrayal and corruption.

A 518-page verdict was passed against the accused, a former senior manager of Indian Overseas Bank in Ahmedabad’s Vastrapur, for causing loss to the bank's financial resources.

The CBI Special Judge ruled that out of the amount of fine paid by the accused former senior manager, ₹15 crore should be paid as compensation to the Indian Overseas Bank.

The court said that since the crime took place 24 years ago in 2000, the value of the rupee at that time, inflation, interest rate, and the value of the rupee today, should be considered.

The court assessed that the estimated value of the entire financial transaction to date is more than ₹84 crore. Thus, the purpose of justice is achieved if the punishment and penalty are given keeping in view the financial condition of the accused.

Accused former senior manager Preeti Sahjwani had prematurely drawn the amounts of FCNR deposits of bank customers Daksha and Narendra Patel on different dates.

Instead of paying these deposit receipts to the holders, Sahjwani deposited the amount in the ghost accounts of fictitious people named Meera and Lal Kundnani, spending it herself.

Thus, the accused committed serious criminal betrayal and corruption of the bank’s customers as well as the bank itself, the court noted.

Several loans were also approved by Sahjwani against the security documents of forged deposit receipts in the name of fictitious people. People preparing the loan documents and sanctioning them were also part of the conspiracy.

The total amount of loans taken for ghost accounts till 2001 amounted to more than ₹1.32 crore and was never returned to the bank.

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