3 jailed for cheating SBH to the tune of 9.5 crore

Hyderabad: A former branch manager and accountant of State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and a former managing director of Unique Plastics Limited were convicted by the Special Judge for CBI cases at Hyderabad on Saturday. The CBI in a press note said Paresh Dhanji Chheda, the then managing director of Unique Plastics Limited and G Rama Rao, then branch manager and Sudhir Rao, the then accountant, both officials of the State Bank of Hyderabad, Ramkote Branch were arrested for creating Rs 9.5 crore loss to the bank.

A case was registered by CBI on November 15, 1999, after receiving a complaint from the senior bank officials alleging that a fraud of Rs 9.50 crore was committed by Paresh Dhanji Chheda, through 20 clearing cheques. The accused used to deposit high-value cheques with the issuing account having insufficient balance and however, the bundle of returned cheques was intercepted and not delivered to the branch with the connivance of bank officials.

The amount was credited to the account of Unique Plastics limited on basis of credit vouchers, with the help of the bank officials. After thorough investigation, a charge sheet was filed against the accused in the Special Court for CBI on December 21, 2001. The court found the accused guilty and convicted them, directing Paresh Chheda to undergo seven years of rigorous imprisonment and pay fine of Rs 10.7 lakh and the two bank officials were convicted with five years of rigorous imprisonment and were penalised with Rs 40,000 each, the note read.