A former special assistant at UCO Bank, A K Biswas, has been sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 6 lakh for defrauding his employer of over Rs 25 lakh in the late 1980s. The crime was committed between 1986 and 1989, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against Biswas on January 20, 1992. According to the FIR, Biswas opened a fictitious bank account, inflated the credit balance, and withdrew the money fraudulently. He cheated the bank of Rs 25,70,073 by using forged and fabricated debit vouchers and fake credit entries in the ledger sheet.
The CBI investigated the case and filed a single chargesheet against Biswas, who was found guilty by the court and sentenced accordingly. Biswas worked at the bank’s Frazer Road branch in Patna from 1983-91 and was a special assistant during that time. The court also held Biswas guilty of inflating the credit balance and withdrawing money based on cheques/withdrawal slips written in his own handwriting.
It is noteworthy that Biswas was not caught or punished immediately after the crime, and it took over 33 years for the case to be resolved. The CBI spokesperson stated that initially, three cases were registered in the matter, which were later amalgamated, and the trial took place over a period of 15 years. The sentence was pronounced on the 28th year of the case. The sentence is a reminder that crime does not go unpunished, even if it takes time, and that justice will eventually be served.