Actress accuses bank of fraud,court asks cops why no action

Petitioner and film-actress-and-producer Padmini Rishi’s advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni contended that the petitioner,had to run after police authorities from the first week of December,2007,and get an FIR filed only on February 2,2008. She said no steps had been taken against the bank officials for misappropriation of funds and cheating.

A division bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice A R Joshi wanted an explanation on why no progress had been made in the case even after a year.

The Additional Public Prosecutor told the court that the Oshiwara police,which had registered the FIR,will arrest the manager of the concerned bank within a week.

Rishi,who has acted in several films,had in 2006 undertaken production of a film called “90 Minute”. She ran into financial trouble due to exceeding budget and needed Rs 1 crore. It was then that one Sachin Shah approached her saying he was a loan consultant with Kaizan Financial Services and was a DSA of Citi Financial and Centurian Bank of Punjab,according to the petition.

Shah sought several documents from her including papers pertaining to her property and initially arranged for a personal loan of Rs 60,000 from Citi Financial,said the petitioner.

Shah asked her to open an account with Centurian Bank where he introduced her to the manager. Thereafter the marketing executive of the bank,one Rahul Shah,helped her open the account after taking her documents.

A few days later,Rahul called the petitioner to confirm that the loan had been sanctioned. He asked her to give 10 signed cheques towards monthly repayment of the loan,according to the complainant.

She added that after a considerable period,when the loan was not credited to her account,she tried to contact Sachin who either avoided or disconnected the calls. Finally,in February 2007,she said she approached the Centurian Bank to close her account and requested a ‘stop payment’ on the cheques she had given for repayment of the loan that she had not availed of.

In October 2007,one Rajesh Poojari visited her house and enquired about Sachin. Rishi said she was shocked to hear that Sachin had obtained a loan of Rs 70 lakh from Citi Financial by mortgaging documents pertaining to her property.

She was told that the loan amount has been deposited in her Centurian Bank account the same day she had approached the bank to close it,said the petitioner. She added that she later came to know from the bank that Rs 70 lakh was credited and later transferred into Sachin’s account without her knowledge.

The petitioner alleges that the bank manager was unable to give a satisfactory explanation.

She then lodged a complaint with Juhu police who did not take cognizance of the complaint. She then approached a senior officer who referred the case to Oshiwara police station where subsequently an FIR was lodged,but only against Sachin and Rahul.

Rishi contends that the Oshiwara police hurriedly conducted the investigation and filed a chargesheet only against Sachin and Rahul. The petition states that such an act could not have been done without the connivance of the bank officials.