After 26 yrs of trial, city banker gets five-year RI

PATNA: After 26 years of trial and submission of 52 chargesheets, the special CBI court-I judge Manoj Kumar Singh on Thursday awarded five years of rigorous imprisonment to a bank manager, Pradeep Kumar Sharma, after he was found guilty of embezzling Rs 6 lakh.
A fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on Sharma, who was charged under sections 420 (cheating), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 477A (falsification of accounts) of Indian Penal Code.
CBI special public prosecutor Akhtar Hussain Khan and Umashankar Tripathy said Sharma had embezzled the amount when he was posted as assistant bank manager at regional office of Punjab National Bank on Fraser Road here between 1986 and 1990. He was heading the legal department of the bank.
“He had opened forged accounts for B N Sahay, T K Prasad and Sunil Kumar, all senior lawyers who were handling legal matters of the bank in Patna high court,” they said, adding Sharma submitted forged bills to the bank in favour of the trio. They said the cheques issued on the names of the three lawyers were deposited by Sharma into the forged account. While one account was opened with Canara Bank branch at Karol Bagh in New Delhi, the two remaining accounts were opened with PNB Fraser Road and Indian Overseas Bank, Patna.
“Investigation led to filing of 52 chargesheets against Sharma, who is a native of Delhi,” they said.