TADIBOINA SUJATHA Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who is Accused No.4 in Crime No.25 of 2024 of CID Police Station, Mangalagiri, filed the present application under Sec. 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking pre-arrest bail.

(2.) The said crime was registered for the offences under Ss. 420, 409, 468, 471 r/w 120b IPC and Sec. 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

(3.) The case of the prosecution in brief is that the Branch head of Union Bank of India, Brodipet branch, Guntur gave a report alleging that five persons, who are A1 to A5, worked in the branch. As per the said report, the regular auditor of the Branch found certain irregularities in sanction and disbursement self help group (SHGCC) and related saving accounts of the groups. The bank conducted investigation and found siphoning of funds by transferring the amounts to saving account of different individuals, material alterations enhancing the limits without following SHG guidelines, crediting the loan amount to group saving account instead of individual saving accounts, keeping part of the loan amount in saving account for future adjustment etc. Some of the cheques related to Government sponsored schemes and issued in favour of other SHG group were transferred to individual saving accounts without verifying the genuineness of the payee. The enquiries made by the investigating officer revealed that irregularities were deliberately committed. When the transactions were placed before the fraud monitoring group, the transaction/incidents were classified as fraud. It was also found that serious irregularities were observed in crediting of Pasupu Kumkuma (scheme by Government) cheques in saving accounts of 43 self help groups. The irregularities found were that the amount received was directly credited to individual accounts without authentication for the corrections made on the cheques. Instead of crediting the amounts to SHG group accounts and therefrom to the individual accounts, the amounts were credited to individual accounts directly.