A special court for CBI cases has acquitted P.K. Sharma, chairman of the Kuber Group of Companies, and a former bank employee in a cheating and corruption case that dates back to 2002.
The CBI had charged that C.M. Vasudeva, then Branch Manager of the Oriental Bank of Commerce at Greater Kailash-II, had in a criminal conspiracy with P.K. Sharma deleted seizure instructions by using his user ID, and dishonestly renewed 17 Call Deposit Receipts (CDR) out of 40 CDRs that were seized by the Income Tax Department during a raid at Sharma’s residence in 1997.
The bank officer was also accused of sanctioning overdraft limits of Rs. 14.23 crore against the renewed CDRs and extending undue benefit of this amount to Sharma, leading to a loss to the bank. It was also alleged that the bank officer fraudulently allowed accrued interest on 26 CDRs of Kuber Planters Limited (KPL) seized by the IT Department without request for renewal by the IT Department or the depositors.
Further, the bank officer was accused of falsely recommending a proposal by Sharma, which was submitted on behalf Kuber Mutual Benefits Limited (KMBL), for issuance of bank guarantee worth Rs. 14.50 crore in favour of the Income Tax Department for getting the CDRs released. However, the proposal was turned down by the bank’s head office, the CBI alleged.
Sharma was the director of KPL and KMBL.
However, Special Judge Praveen Kumar at the Rohini district courts acquitted the two accused and the two companies represented by Sharma. “Upon consideration of all the facts and circumstances of the case…, this court is of the considered opinion that the prosecution has failed to prove its case against all the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Hence, all the accused in present case are hereby acquitted of all the charges levelled against them,” the Judge said.
A special court for CBI cases also acquitted a bank employee who was an accused
