Daijiworld Media Network - Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad, Sep 9: A CBI court has convicted and sentenced private company M/s Kushal Diamonds Ltd. and two of its directors in a case involving criminal conspiracy and cheating, the agency said on Wednesday.
The court on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Kushal Diamonds Ltd. Its Chief Managing Director, Bakul Zaveri, and Director, Mazhar S. Kapadia, were sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined Rs 30 lakh each.
The CBI had registered the case on March 15, 2000, against Virendra Kumar Sawhney, Rohit Dhingra and Ram Avatar Agarwal, all then public servants with the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), Ahmedabad.
It was alleged that Sawhney, then Joint Director, Dhingra, Joint Manager (Finance), and Agarwal, then Regional General Manager, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the directors of Kushal Diamonds Ltd., Mumbai.
According to the investigation, NSIC had disbursed funds amounting to Rs 2,34,85,081 to Kushal Diamonds Ltd. under its Bill Discounting Facility and Raw Material Assistance Scheme.
Of this amount, Rs 1,34,88,717 was adjusted through various means, including adjustment against past outstanding dues, payments received through cheques and demand drafts, payments received from overseas buyers and adjustment of earnest money deposits.
The final outstanding amount payable by Kushal Diamonds Ltd. as of March 31, 1996, stood at Rs 99,96,364, which was treated as wrongful loss to NSIC Ltd.
After completing its investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet on January 8, 2002, against eight accused. The accused included Kushal Diamonds Ltd., its directors Bakul Zaveri, Mazhar S. Kapadia and Subhash Chhanana, besides four NSIC public servants -- Sawhney, Dhingra, Agarwal and Rajesh Arora.
Following the conclusion of the trial, the court convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly.
However, the four public servants were acquitted of the charges levelled against them.
The case against private accused Subhash Chhanana was abated after he died during the course of the trial.