Snehal Upadhyay-
Published on: August 11, 2021 at 11:34 IST
Kerala High Court has directed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to complete further investigation on the former managing director of Kerala Cooperative Bank, Biswanath Sinha on corruption charges within three months.
The Single Bench of Justice R Narayana Pisharady had recently issued such an order and has quashed the petition which was filed by an officer who was challenging the Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court’s order.
The Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court’s order pushed down the final report, which claimed for dropping the charges and it directed the VACB to conduct further investigation.
As of now, Biswanath Sinha is holding the office of Principal Secretary at the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. He has corruption charges against him. He has been alleged to conspire with 11 other people and misused their official position and public office to weaken the routine procedure, by giving a loan of 350 lakhs to a firm that incurred loss to the bank.
Senior Advocate S Sreekumar, under the instructions of Advocate Deepu Lal Mohan, was appearing from the bureaucrat’s side in this matter.
The prosecution contended that no application was found from the company to which the huge amount of loan was sanctioned by the bank.
Further, the prosecution also presented the letters which were sent by the petitioner to the senior manager of the bank, to make a stand on the disbursement of the loan amount even without complying with the necessary formalities and even threatening disciplinary actions against the senior manager.
Special Public Prosecutor, Rajesh represented the VACB. The Vigilance Special Court was ordered to conduct a further investigation into this issue and return the final report, which was filed by the VACB claiming to close the case.
The VACB’s final report had suggested dropping any further action on this case on the ground that there was no scope for the successful prosecution of the accused.
The Court noted the directions given by the Special Court and, stated that there is a requirement of further investigation in this case and, there is no sufficient ground that can make any inference to the Special Court’s order.
The Court has directed to complete the remaining investigation without wasting time or waiting for any further approval from the competent authority as the discretion given under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Click here to Read/Download the Order
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