A CBI court of special judicial magistrate Anil Kumar Yadav sentenced directors of M/s Mastana Foods Private Limited, of Naya Bazar, Delhi, to two and a half years in jail each.
They were also fined ₹10,000 each. The duo—Krishan Mohan Mendiratta and Anil Khurana— residents of Kaithal, were found guilty under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. M/s Mastana Foods Private Limited was also found guilty under both sections and also directed to pay ₹10,000 each.
The case dates back to February 2020. They were booked on the complaint of Bharat Bhushan Kakkar, the then DGM of SBI, Stressed Assets Management Branch, Sector-8, Chandigarh. The case concerned a wrongful loss of ₹91.10 crore to SBI directors of M/s Mastana Foods Private Limited.
A case under sections 120B, 406, 420, 467, 468, and 471 of the IPC was registered at the CBI Special Task Branch (STB) police station, New Delhi, on February 25, 2020.
The court held that: “Prosecution has duly proved dishonest intention of borrower company to cheat the bank by dealing with dummy/shell firms for purpose of showing rosy picture of its financial position by relying upon fake paper transactions for sale and purchase without carrying out physical movement of goods and thereby induced the bank to sanction loan by relying upon those fake entries of debtors shown against Delhi based dummy/shell firms and by failure to pay the loan amount of the lending bank caused thereby wrongful loss of ₹91.10 crore to the complainant bank and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves in collusion with each other by leading cogent oral as well as documentary evidence in its support.”