 "Syndicate Bank scam: CBI judge threatens action after accused send 'love letters'")
New Delhi: A Special CBI judge on Saturday remanded in the Syndicate Bank bribery case the lender’s suspended CMD Sudhir Kumar Jain and others to judicial custody till August 29.
She also warned of action against the accused.
“Please tell your clients to stop sending love letters to me. I am already from a well off background. If you don’t stop this act, I will direct CBI to take action against you,” Special CBI judge Swarana Kanta Sharma said during the hearing.
She pulled up the accused and asked their counsel to make them behave properly.
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Bhushan Steel Ltd vice chairman Neeraj Singal, chief financial officer Arun Agarwal, Vineet and Puneet Godha (relatives of Jain), and Vijay Pahuja were the other accused who were sent to judicial custody.
Jain, who was suspended as chairman and managing director after his arrest early this month, and Singal were produced in court after expiry of their judicial custody while the other accused were brought from jail on the court’s production warrants.
The court had on August 12 issued production warrants against them.
The CBI has filed two cases against Jain, accusing him of receiving a bribe of Rs. 50 lakh through conduits and abusing his official position to enhance the credit limits of some companies in violation of laid-down procedures.
Singal was arrested by the agency on August 7, hours after the court had issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him and Purushotam Totlani, an alleged middleman in the case.
On August 2, the CBI had arrested six accused, including Jain and Agarwal.
The CBI claimed to have recovered Rs. 21 lakh in cash from Jain’s residence besides gold worth Rs. 1.68 crore and documents of fixed deposits of up to Rs. 63 lakh.
In the two FIRs, the CBI has named Singal, Ved Prakash Agarwal, chairman-cum-managing director of Prakash Industries, chartered accountant Pawan Bansal, Vineet and Puneet Godha, Vijay Pahuja, Totlani and Pankaj Bansal.
They have been booked under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.
PTI