Special CBI court in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad has sentenced a senior manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and two businessmen to five years of imprisonment for defrauding the bank of Rs 40 lakh, officials said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 7.5 lakh on Sanjiv Kamalkar Inamdar, the then Senior Manager of Punjab National Bank’s Ahmedabad branch. A fine of Rs 7 lakh each has been imposed on the other two convicts - Mayank Bachubhai Shah and Rikin Bachubhai Shah - proprietors of Gujarat-based Jainal Enterprise.

CBI had registered a case on December 2, 2004 against the bank officials on the allegations that they had sanctioned a cash credit (hypothecation) facility of Rs 40 lakh to Mayank Bachubhai Shah on the basis of forged documents, without carrying out physical verification of the immovable property.

During the investigation, the CBI collected evidence and established before the court that the allegations against the accused were true.

After investigation, CBI filed a chargesheet on October 6, 2006 against the accused. During the trial, the three accused were found guilty