Chandigarh, December 5
The Special Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh, CBI, has held a company, Shri Balaji Sponge Iron Private Limited, guilty of the commission of offences punishable under Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the IPC in a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2008.
The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on December 6. The CBI had registered the case against the company and its director Manoj Goel for alleged loan scam over Rs 16 crore in the Sector 17 branch of Punjab National Bank (PNB) .The proceeding against director Goel was abated vide order dated May 5,2019 after his death.
The CBI raided the bank office and offices of the company in Una after registering the case. As per the prosecution, the loan of over Rs 16 crore was extended in two installments in 2005 and 2006, respectively, for setting up a plant in Himachal’s Una district. The company failed to pay back the loan amount.
The second loan was given for setting up a power plant in Himachal Pradesh. It has been alleged that certain bank officials also went out of the way to get the loan sanctioned for the private company for its Himachal plant even though it was not within their powers. The second loan was sanctioned even when the company failed to pay back the first one.
As per the prosecution, the credentials of the company and its owners were not checked thoroughly by the bank. The company had even failed to provide essential papers while taking the loan. The company was running at a loss and had not even been able to pay its electricity bills in Una.
Public prosecutor Narender Singh argued before the court that the prosecution had proved the case beyond a shadow of doubt. After hearing the arguments, the court convicted the company.
