Former Minister Krishnaiah Setty sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2008 bank fraud case  

Former Minister and three others convicted in bank fraud case, sentenced to 3 years; released on interim bail.

A special court in Bengaluru on Thursday convicted former Minister S.N. Krishnaiah Setty and three others and sentenced them to three years’ imprisonment in a bank fraud case of 2008.

Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, judge of the Special Court of Sessions for criminal cases against former and present MLAs and MPs, passed the order after finding enough material to establish the charges against the accused persons. The copy of the judgment is yet to be released.

Meanwhile, the special court released Mr. Setty and others on interim bail, valid for a month, enabling them to challenge the verdict before the High Court. The trial court has the jurisdiction in law to grant bail if the sentence does not exceed three years.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a first information report (FIR) in 2008 based on a complaint from the Vigilance Officer of the erstwhile State Bank of Mysore (SBM) and filed a chargesheet under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It was stated in the chargesheet that the branch manager of SBM and others in collusion with one another, got housing loans sanctioned to various individuals through Mr. Setty’s Sri Balaji Krupa Enterprises by submitting fabricated salary certificates of ITI, BEML, BMTC, Bescom, and KSRTC etc. ... and the branch manager had sanctioned loans to the extent of ₹7.17 crore.

The chargesheet had stated that by accepting such false and fabricated documents, loans were sanctioned and the outstanding loan amount was to the tune of ₹3.53 crore when the chargesheet was filed.

The High Court of Karnataka in March 2023 directed the special court to complete the trial expeditiously.