Chennai: Aabavanan, producer of 1986 blockbuster ‘Oomai Vizhigal’, has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years by a special court for CBI cases in Chennai on Tuesday for cheating a nationalised bank.
The XI Additional Judge for CBI cases, K.Venkatasamy, imposed a fine of Rs .2.40 crore on the yesteryear Kollywood director, story and screen play writer for cheating Punjab National Bank, Cathedral Road branch, about 17-years ago.
According to prosecution, Aabavanan and his wife, Thenmozhi Aabavanan conspired with the bank’s then chief manager Rajagopal, assistant manager Ramanujam and regional manager H.P. Subramanyam of Cathedral Road Branch, to cheat the bank.
Aabavanan opened 17 accounts during 1999 and 2000. He received cheques for Rs 3.31 crore from Kavery Corporation and Raj Communications India. The cheques were issued from Indian Bank Branch, Bhavani.
On depositing the cheques, Aabavanan secured an advance of Rs 3.31 crore from the Punjab National Bank. However, only an amount of Rs 96.85 lakh was realised from 25 cheques and 44 cheques were returned due to insufficient fund in the account. As a result, the PNB incurred a loss of Rs 2.34 crore. On the bank’s complaint, CBI took up investigation.
The judge, K.Venkatasamy, convicted Aabavanan, Rajagopal and Ramanujam on charges of cheating the bank. While sentencing Aabavanan to undergo RI for five years, the judge directed Rajagopal and Ramanujam to undergo RI for three years. The court also imposed a fine of Rs .2.40 crore on Aabavanan , Rs 15 lakh on Rajagopal and Rs 10 lakh on Ramanujam. The judge acquitted Thenmozhi Aabavanan and Subramanyam from the case.
