Mumbai: A special CBI court here granted bail today to Usha Ananthasubramanian, former managing director and CEO of Allahabad Bank, in connection with the Rs 14,000 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB). Earlier this month, the court had taken cognisance of the sanction granted by the government to prosecute Ananthasubramanian in the case.
Ananthasubramanian appeared before special judge J C Jagdale and applied for bail, which was granted by the court.
The government had dismissed Ananthasubramanian on August 14. Three months ago, she was divested of her powers as MD and CEO of Allahabad Bank following the country’s biggest bank fraud allegedly carried out by diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and associates at the PNB.
Ananthasubramanian, who was the MD and CEO of Punjab National Bank before moving to the Allahabad Bank, was named in the CBI charge sheet in connection with the fraud conducted through fake LoUs in connivance with some PNB employees. It was alleged that she failed to exercise proper control over the functioning of PNB while serving as the bank’s managing director.
Ananthasubramanian headed PNB between August 2015 and May 2017, before moving to Allahabad Bank. She was also executive director at PNB from July 2011 to November 2013.
Besides Ananthasubramanian, the CBI court had also taken cognisance of sanction for prosecution against former PNB executive director Sanjiv Sharan. He too was granted bail today on similar grounds.