CBI court acquits former bank chairman

KOCHI:  The CBI Court in Kochi has acquitted a former chairman and managing director of Vijaya Bank in connection with a corruption case registered in 2006. The court acquitted Manmohan Singh Kapur, former chairman and MD of the bank, and K Shambu Rai, deputy general manager working with the bank’s head office in Bengaluru.

Apart from the duo, R Jeyakumar Pilla, a manager with the bank’s branch at Vytilla, is the other accused in the case. The case pertains to the sanctioning of a loan to businessman K M Sali for constructing a residential-cum-commercial building at Kacheripady. During the construction of the building, Sali entered into an agreement with a jewellery group to lease out the ground floor and two floors of the building.

 Later, Sali approached the Vytilla branch of Vijaya Bank for a housing loan to the tune of `90 lakh. For clearing the loan, the bank manager allegedly demanded a bribe. The loan was sanctioned by the Regional Office in January 2005 after the amount was paid. Later, Sali was told that the bank’s chairman and managing director will be visiting Kochi with his family and since the jewellery group is a tenant of Sali, he was requested to take them to the jewellery’s office for discussion to canvas their account.

On June 25, 2005, the chairman and chief managing director of the bank arrived in Kochi along with his family and visited the jewellery showroom on MG Road. They selected gold jewellery worth `71,000. However, Sali was asked to pay for the ornaments. In 2006, CBI took over the case after receiving information regarding the corruption. Later, Jayakumar Pillai and Sali were made approvers in the case. 

During the trial, the court found numerous lapses on the part of CBI. The court stated the final report filed by CBI did not disclose the reason why some of the persons named in FIR were not chargesheeted. “The materials on the record show that the investigation in the case is shrouded with mystery,” stated in the order.