4 directors, two employees of realty firm jailed in Rs 363.80-cr Canara Bank fraud

A special CBI court in Panchkula has sentenced four directors and two employees of SRS Real Estate Ltd to rigorous imprisonment in a major bank fraud case that caused a wrongful loss of Rs 363.80 crore to Canara Bank. The court also imposed fines on the company.

Special Judicial Magistrate Anil Kumar Yadav held that the offences committed by the accused amounted to serious “white-collar crime” with far-reaching consequences for the economy and public exchequer, and rejected pleas for leniency despite claims of old age, illness and prolonged incarceration by the convicts.

The court sentenced company directors Anil Jindal, Bishan Bansal, Rajesh Singla and Nanak Chand Tayal to five years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 420 of the IPC (cheating) and four years’ rigorous imprisonment under Sections 120B, 468 and 471 IPC. All sentences will run concurrently. Each convict was also fined Rs 20,000 on each count, failing which they will undergo an additional month of imprisonment.

Two other accused — Seema Narang and Dheeraj Gupta, employees of the SRS Group — were sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment under Sections 120B, 420, 468 and 471 IPC, along with a fine of Rs 20,000 each.

The company, M/s SRS Real Estate Ltd, was ordered to pay a total fine of Rs 50,000. The court directed that the fine be paid by Anil Jindal on behalf of the company, noting that he continues to be a director as per records of the Registrar of Companies.

Opposing leniency, the CBI argued that the accused had caused huge losses to a public sector bank through a criminal conspiracy involving forged invoices, fake sale and purchase transactions and the use of shell companies. The prosecution submitted that such economic offences “affect the economy of the country as a whole” and cited Supreme Court rulings calling for strict punishment in financial fraud cases.

Accepting the CBI’s submissions, the court observed that the accused had “cleverly conceived contrivances” not only to cheat banks but also to dupe the general public in the name of housing projects. The court also noted that several of the convicts were facing dozens to hundreds of other criminal cases involving similar allegations.