The court, while awarding the sentence, also imposed a fine of Rs 70,000 on Muthaiah, Rs 50,000 on Azeez, and a fine of Rs 90,000 on Prasad.
Additionally, the court imposed a fine of Rs 9 lakh on GeminiPictures Circuit Pvt Ltd and Rs 2 lakh on Asian Photo Films Pvt Ltd.
The CBI had registered the case in 1998 against the accused based on a complaint from Indian Bank.
It was alleged that M. Gopalakrishnan, chairman of the bank, A.V. Shanmugasundaram, DGM, B. Muthaiah, chief manager, and M. Azeez, then AGM, hatched a conspiracy with other the accused, including private individuals.
It was also alleged that the accused submitted false and forged documents, availed a loan, and failed to repay the same. This caused a loss to the tune of Rs. 8.35 crore to Indian Bank.
After investigation, a charge sheet was filed in 2001. Shanmugasundaram and A. Ravi Shankar Prasad died during trial, and the charges against them were dropped.
–Ajit Weekly Newsatk/arm
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