₹7K-cr fraud: Court rejects plea to make PNB an accused

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Monday rejected an application filed by Nitin Shahi — assistant finance officer of M/s Gitanjali Gems Ltd and an accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud — seeking to make the bank an accused in the case.

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CBI has registered a case against executives of the Gitanjali group of companies for defrauding PNB of ₹7,080.86 crore between 2013 and 2017, by conniving with the bank’s officials to get fraudulent foreign letters of credit and letters of understanding (LOUs).

Shahi had moved a plea before the special CBI court questioning why PNB had not been made an accused in the fraud case, claiming the bank had overlooked the discrepancies in transactions. He submitted that PNB had earned commission from the transactions, and so, now, “the bank cannot play the victim card”.

CBI had opposed the plea claiming PNB and Gitanjali Gems cannot be measured by the same yardstick.

“The employees of PNB – senior or junior – have been charge-sheeted because they have conspired in cheating PNB, whereas, the employees or senior management of Gitanjali group have been charge-sheeted as they had conspired within themselves and with bank officials and defrauded the bank,” CBI claimed in its reply.