NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, NOV 11
A special CBI court in Madurai has sentenced Y Kiran Babu, former manager of the State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Alangudi, Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu, to four years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 3.7 lakh in a high-profile bank fraud case. The accused had misappropriated nearly Rs 4.95 crore from SBI’s internal accounts.
The case was initially registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on December 31, 2018, following allegations that Kiran Babu, in his capacity as branch manager, abused his position to embezzle funds. According to the CBI, Kiran Babu transferred funds from the Branch General Ledger (BGL) account, meant for internal accounting purposes, into his wife’s bank accounts at various banks. The fraudulent transfers, which began in December 2016, were carefully disguised in smaller transactions to evade detection.
The investigation revealed that Kiran Babu, in collusion with others, conducted multiple unauthorized transfers, amounting to a total of Rs 4.94 crore, by debiting funds from the BGL account. This account is typically used for handling internal transactions within the bank and does not impact customer accounts directly. By exploiting this system, he was able to avoid immediate detection and misappropriated the funds over a period of time.
Upon completing the investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet against Kiran Babu on September 24, 2019. Following a thorough trial, the court found him guilty of fraud and conspiracy, leading to his conviction and sentencing.
