Chennai Court Finds Kotak Mahindra Guilty Of Perjury, Sentences Bank's Legal Manager To 3 Months Imprisonment

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate N Kothandaraj passed the order on March 12, 2025, convicting the bank and the Legal Manager under Section 193 [False evidence] and Section 209 [Dishonestly making false claim in the court] of the IPC. The court imposed a fine of Rs. 1,00,000 on the bank for the offence under Section 913 and another sum of Rs. 50,000 for the offence under Section 209.

The manager had submitted that he had no personal enmity with Selvaraj and had only filed the affidavit based on the information received from the bank. He thus sought for a minimum sentence. Considering the facts and the materials, the court awarded simple imprisonment of 3 months with a fine of Rs. 5,000 each for offences under Sections 193 and 204. The court added that the imprisonment under Section 193 and Section 209 was to run concurrently.

The case pertains to a false affidavit made by the Bank before the Madras High Court stating that it had not collected excess amount from one Selvaraj. Selvaraj had taken a bank loan of Rs. 1.5 Crore. When he intended to foreclose the loan, he was asked to pay an amount of Rs. 1.7 crore which was duly paid. However, when Selvaraj asked for his statement of accounts, the bank refused failed to provide him the same prompting him to approach the Banking Ombudsman. The ombudsman rejected his application.

Following this, Selvaraj approached the High court in 2012. Though the bank, in its affidavit claimed that no amount was due and payable to Selvaraj, it later credited an amount of Rs. 14,30,510 to Selvaraj's account. Selvaraj thus filed an application asking the bank to be tried for filing false evidence in court. Since the affidavit was filed by the bank Legal Manager, proceedings were also sought to be initiated against him.

Following this, the High Court impleaded the Inspector of Police, Bank fraud Investigation Wing, Central Chennai to facilitate the investigation. By an order dated February 22, 2023, the High Court directed that a case be filed against the Bank, Manager and others for giving false evidence. The evidence of the Deputy registrar, Criminal side was recorded on behalf of the complainant.

The court noted that though the Bank, in its counter affidavit filed through the legal manger had specifically denied Selvaraj's claim that an amount of Rs. 28,26,294 was collected excessively, it had later transferred an amount of Rs. 14,30,510 to his account after auditing. Thus, the court found that the bank was guilty of giving false evidence.