The Madurai Bench of the Madras High court has ruled that a businessman, who takes bank loans by producing fake property documents with collusion of bank officials, was not entitled to be discharged from the criminal case even if he repaid the loan.
Justice M.Venugopal, dismissing a case filed by a businessman, said the accused could not be exempted from standing trial as grave charges of cheating, forgery and corruption, had been made against him and the bank officials.
The material collected during the investigation and evidence placed before the trial court would decide the fate of the accused, the judge said, adding this court could not analyse the case before trial and find out whether it would end in conviction or acquittal.
Special Public Prosecutor for CBI said ten accused had caused a loss of Rs.105.63 lakh to Bank of Baroda in the present case.
CBI had invoked IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 467 (forgery of valuable security) besides provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Of all the legal provisions, Section 420 alone was a compoundable offence. Under the Evidence Act, every conspirator was liable for the offences committed by others in reference to a common design, he said.
Source: business-standard
