The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, on Monday, sentenced former share broker Ketan Parekh to two years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 after it found him guilty of obtaining duplicate debentures in lieu of originals.
The court presided over by judge D Deshpande, however, acquitted the three Bank of Baroda (BOB) officials, who had been arrested along with Parekh on the ground that the prosecution had failed to produce evidence against them.
According to the prosecution, during the 1986-91 period, top officers of the bank allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with Parekh and allegedly cheated BOB, Mumbai by obtaining duplicate debentures in lieu of the original, and allegedly claimed that the original debentures of a leading private company in the name of two NRI's (Suryakant Patel and Jyostna Suryakant Patel), were purportedly lost from the safe custody department of Bank of Baroda, Mumbai Main office, and availed loan facilities in the name of four associate firms of Shri Ketan Manharlal Parekh from Bank of Baroda, thereby causing loss to the bank.
According to the charges framed by the CBI court against the accused on February 4, 2011, Mahesh Patel, who was in-charge of the safe custody department, allegedly conspired with Parekh and dishonestly opened four different accounts.
Accused Dolatrai Desai, while functioning as officer at BOB, allegedly failed to scrutinize the loan proposals that had no consent letters from the NRI debenture holders, nor did he obtain permission from the RBI.
According to the charges, accused Caetano Rodrigues had allegedly transgressed Parekh's loan limit and fraudulently sanctioned and disbursed loan to the tune of Rs 15, 00,000.
When dna spoke to the public prosecutor, she said: "We examined 17 witnesses in the case and all supported the case. We also examined an officer from the RBI. However, we could not prove the charges against the BOB officials. We, however, successfully proved Parekh was guilty of fraud."
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