Nonbailable warrants issued against four SBI officials

Warrants issued after the accused fail to appear for hearing of case on Friday

KAPURTHALA : The court of chief judicial magistrate issued nonbailable warrants against four senior officials of a branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) here on Saturday in a ₹6-crore loan fraud case in 2014 involving a private firm.

The police had submitted a chargesheet before a local court in May after an inquiry was conducted by the crime branch, Mohali, in the case.

In the chargesheet, the police had named 14 people, including nine bank officials.

Those named in the challan are the then branch manager Sonal Gupta, additional manager Dharminder Tiwari, then assistant general managers

POLICE HAD SUBMITTED CHARGESHEET BEFORE A LOCAL COURT IN MAY AFTER AN INQUIRY WAS CONDUCTED BY THE CRIME BRANCH, MOHALI

(AGMS) Vipan Negi, Aditi Walia, Garima Pritam and Kotak Mahindra Bank’s sales manager Deepak Bajaj, credit manager Nawal Kishore, direct sales agent Gurinder Bajwa, the then Axis Bank sales manager Ajay Kumar Gautam, chartered accountant (CA) Rajiv Singh and firm partner Sukhwinder Singh and three of his family members.

The court had issued summons to four SBI officials, including then additional manager Dharminder Tiwari, then assistant general managers (AGMS) Vipan Negi, Aditi Walia, Garima Pritam and CA Rajiv Singh to appear before it on July 13.

However, the accused did not appear for the hearing and the court issued non-bailable warrants against five people, including four SBI officials, said the police.

A case was registered against 14 people in May 2014 after Ikaum Impex owner Sonia Bawa, a resident of Kapurthala, had lodged a complaint against her partner Sukhwinder Singh, his family members and bank officials of committing a fraud ₹6 crore by forging documents.

Sonia had alleged that, as per the partnership deed, her partner was supposed to get her signatures while dealing with a bank or a financial institution, but he did not do so in connivance with bank officials while applying for a loan.

During the course of the investigation, the police found the firm’s papers were tampered with.

The police said Sukhwinder Singh and his family had managed to flee the country and they have declared him a proclaimed offender (PO).

City police station house officer (SHO) Gabbar Singh said that they have conducted raids at the residences of the accused in Chandigarh and Panchkula in Haryana, but they are still absconding. They will be nabbed soon, he said.