In 3rd case in 7 days, court hands out life term for duping bank

MUMBAI: In a third such judgment in a week, a special CBI court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced a 67-year-old man to life imprisonment and fined him Rs 5.03 crore for cheating State Bank of India of Rs 1.04 crore in 1996-97. Narendra C Patel was accused of forging signatures on bank documents for illegally withdrawing Rs 1 crore from the fixed deposit of an NRI couple in Sharjah.
Special judge S R Tamboli found Patel guilty on six charges, including cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. While in 2015, bank officials — then branch manager Vrushali Namjoshi and accountant Umakant Shirodkar — and businessman Homi Patrawala were convicted and handed three and two-year sentences respectively, the case against Patel was separated after he went absconding. Patel was arrested in 2016.
While seeking maximum sentence against Patel, special public prosecutor Chetan Kumar Nandode said he did not deserve parity in sentencing with the other accused as his role was more serious.