Senior SBI Officials Demanded Rs.40 Lakh from Chief Manager to drop Charges against Him

Bhiwadi, Rajasthan: The Rajasthan High Court has directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR and conduct an investigation against senior executives of the State Bank of India (SBI) for demanding Rs 40 lakh from a former bank manager to drop criminal charges against him.

Vivek Sharma previously worked as a chief manager at SBI’s Bhiwadi branch, where he discovered a housing loan fraud amounting to Rs 51 lakh. He reported the irregularities to the senior executives, but he himself became a target of retaliation from senior bank officials. The senior executives filed a police complaint against him and suspended him in September 2020.

Sharma alleged that SBI officials sought a bribe of Rs 40 lakh to drop the charges against him. Following this, he filed complaints to various authorities, including the Central Vigilance Commission and the SBI chairperson, and finally he approached ACB on Nov 15, 2022.

ACB did not conduct the investigation properly and decided to close its preliminary inquiry into the matter. After this, he approached the High Court.

The bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Jain on Oct 5, overturned ACB’s earlier decision to close its preliminary inquiry into the matter. The court criticised the bureau for not filing an FIR and noted that a proper investigation is essential when there are allegations of cognisable offences.

While ACB initially conducted a verification process and found credible claims within Sharma’s complaint, it still opted to close the inquiry and proposed prosecuting Sharma himself for allegedly providing false evidence. The High Court, however, emphasised that when credible allegations are made, an FIR must be filed without unnecessary preliminary inquiries. The employee requested the High Court to transfer the case to the CBI, but the High Court, however, declined to transfer the investigation to the CBI.

More details will be released soon.

0 Comments

*Enter your name

*Email not valid.

*2 characters minimum.

Do not change these fields following