K.RAMACHANDRAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The 1st accused in C.C.No.4 of 2003 on the files of the Court of the Special Judge (SPF/CBI)-I, Ernakulam has filed this appeal challenging conviction and sentence imposed against him as per judgment dtd. 24/12/2007.

(2.) Heard the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned Special Public Prosecutor appearing for CBI/the prosecution.

(3.) The prosecution case is that accused Nos.1 and 2 hatched conspiracy to grant loan of Rs.5.00 lakhs in the name of Cheriyan Varghese, the father of the 2nd accused and later this loan was released in the account of the 2nd accused. This loan was sanctioned without the knowledge of the Zonal Office. The further case is that in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy, in order to secure more funds for the personal needs of the 2nd accused, the 1st accused sanctioned Housing loan for Rs.5.00 lakhs in the name of Cheriyan Varghese, the father of the 2nd accused. The amount under housing loan was released and it was credited in the CC account of the 2nd accused. This was done without the knowledge of Zonal office. The said amount was availed by the 2nd accused for his personal needs. The 1st accused in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy by abusing his official position dishonestly sanctioned Rs.1.00 lakh as clean overdraft to the 2nd accused on 15/11/1997. The amount sanctioned under the above overdraft was transferred to the Cash Credit account No.201 of the 2nd accused. The 1st accused in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy dishonestly sanctioned two clean Overdrafts of Rs.2.00 Iakhs each in the name of one Varghese Daniel, the brother-in-law of the 2nd accused and one M.G.Baby, a close associate of the 2nd accused. Both of them were strangers to the Bank and these loans were sanctioned by the 1st accused in order to provide funds to the 2nd accused. The 1st accused also dishonestly and by abusing his official position purchased clean bills presented by the 2nd accused in his cash credit account without intimating the Zonal office, to the tune of Rs.2.00 lakhs on 19/1/1998, Rs.2.5 lakhs on 6/2/1998, Rs.1.6 lakhs on 16/3/1998, Rs.2.00 lakhs on 3/4/1998 and Rs.2.25 lakhs on 16/4/1998. The cheque purchased on 16/4/1998 for Rs.2.25 lakhs was returned unpaid. Thereafter one V.G.Narayanan Unnithan was taken by the 2nd accused to the 1st accused intimating him that the Manager was arranging loan from SBT, Pandalam. The 1st accused Ramachandran and the 2nd accused Moncy Cheriyan, in furtherance of the said conspiracy requested Narayanan Unnithan to make a transfer of 12.50 cents of land belonging to him and his wife, Meera to a person in Pandalam area in order to sanction a loan against the said transfer. Narayanan Unnithan was told by the 1st accused and 2nd accused that a loan would be sanctioned in the name of the buyer and the proceeds of the loan would be given to Narayanan Unnithan as the seller of the property. Accordingly, the property was transferred in the name of one Simon Daniel. Then the 1st accused dishonestly sanctioned housing loan to the tune of Rs.4.00 lakhs and by abusing his official position. The amount was transferred to the joint SB Account of Narayanan Unnithan and Meera and the cheque book issued to this account was kept by the 1st accused. On 1/3/1999, three cheques of the above account in the name of Narayanan Unnithan and Meera amounting to Rs.2,25,800.00, Rs.84,200.00and Rs.90,000.00 were fraudulently obtained from Narayanan Unnithan and Meera by the 1st accused. Thereafter, the 2nd accused prepared and gave three credit vouchers of similar amount and gave the same to the 1st accused. The 1st accused dishonestly sent the credit vouchers to the cash counter of the paying Cashier without the consent of Narayanan Unnithan transferred the amount of Rs.4.00 lakhs to various accounts as per the credit voucher. Narayanan Unnithan was thereby cheated by the 1st accused and the 2nd accused. The amount outstanding in the overdraft account in the name of Varghese Daniel as on 22/5/2000 was Rs.58,519.00. The housing loan account in the name of Simon Daniel became an NPA and the amount outstanding this account as on 22/5/2000 was Rs.4,44,993.00. On 18/8/1998 the 2nd accused brought George Daniel one of his friends to avail Rs.2.00 lakhs clean overdraft and the 1st accused dishonestly sanctioned Rs.2.00 lakhs overdraft in the name of George Daniel and transferred the amount to the cash credit account 201 of the 2nd accused. The 1st accused in furtherance of his criminal conspiracy with the 2nd accused released 23 cents of land in the name of the 2nd accused to sell the property to one A.Joseph, which was kept as Collateral Security without informing the matter to Zonal Office. The 1st accused by abusing his official position sanctioned a housing loan of Rs.2.3 lakhs to Joseph for purchasing this land. The 1st accused dishonestly issued an office cheque to Joseph asking to withdraw the cash and then to deposit the amount in the Cash Credit account 201 of the 2nd accused. The 1st accused abused his official position to disburse the amount in lumpsum. Rs.30,000.00 was paid to Joseph to meet the transaction expenses. This account also has become an NPA and the outstanding amount in this account as on 28/3/2001 was Rs.2,71,933.00. The 1st accused and the 2nd accused decided to sell the property of Cheriyan Varghese where a housing loan of Rs.5.00 lakhs was sanctioned by the bank. The 1st accused forwarded a proposal to Zonal Office for availing Rs.12.00 lakhs as housing Loan in the name of two NRIs for purchasing this property. The 1st accused dishonestly hidden the fact from Zonal office that the bank had already sanctioned a housing loan on the same property. The 1st accused by abusing his official position dishonestly sanctioned a clean overdraft of Rs.2.00 lakhs in the name of one Santhamma George, wife of one of the NRI partner and this amount was deposited in the SB account of one Prema Pappachan, her sister and wife of another NRI partner to show as margin money for the proposed loan. This amount was transferred to the fixed deposit from the SB account. Thus the acts of the 1st accused and the 2nd accused, State Bank of Travancore, Pandalam sustained a wrongful loss of Rs.27,00,349.00 thereby the 1st accused and the 2nd accused committed offences punishable under Sec. 120B read with Sec. 420 of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') and Sec. 13(2) read with Sec. 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short 'the PC Act, 1988').