HC upholds bank manager’s conviction in graft case

The conviction of a Vijaya Bank manager to two years imprisonment for a crime committed by him in early 1990s has been upheld by the High Court of Karnataka. Arun Kumar Alva’s appeal against a trial court order convicting him was pending in the HC from 2010.

It was disposed of by Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar on November 23, 2022. Alva was the branch manager of Vijaya Bank, West of Chord Road, Bengaluru between 1998 and 1993. He was senior manager of the bank’s branch at Infantry Road from 1993 to 1994. He was accused of fraudulently obtaining a loan against term deposit of one NR Dwarakanath, a client of the bank.

Without the client making an application Alva created a debit slip for Rs.3 lakh. He allegedly misappropriated this amount. When he was transferred to the Infantry Road branch, he transferred this loan account to that branch. Another allegation was that as the manager of the Infantry Road branch he issued a bank guarantee to the Government in favour of one Haricharan P for registration of an Excise contract without entering the same in the Book of Accounts of the bank.

The XXI Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge and Special Judge for CBI Cases which held the trial convicted Alva under both the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. He was sentenced to imprisonment of two years each for the charges and the sentences were to run concurrently.

Upholding the conviction and sentence handed by the Trial Court, the HC said, “I have perused the records and the entire evidence. There is nothing wrong in expressing an opinion in the beginning itself that I need not give elaborate reasons as I find no infirmity in the judgment of the trial court which has thoroughly assessed the evidence in order to record conviction against the accused. And for this reason, I do not find it necessary to advertise the oral evidence of each witness.”