A CBI court in Lucknow has sentenced a former assistant of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a ₹ 6.37-crore fraud case involving alleged diversion of LIC funds through forged payment vouchers and cheques, the agency said in a press note issued on Thursday.
The court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Pankaj Saxena, the then higher-grade assistant at LIC’s trans-Gomti branch in Jankipuram, and three private persons—Prem Shankar Upadhyay, Rekha Upadhyay and Manish Saxena—in the case, according to the CBI. Besides the jail term, a fine of ₹ 5 lakh was also imposed on Saxena. The three private accused were each sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹ 1.25 lakh, the agency said. The case was registered on August 13, 2012, on a complaint by the then chief manager of LIC’s trans-Gomti branch, according to the CBI. The agency alleged that between February 2006 and August 2010, the accused, acting in conspiracy, prepared forged payment vouchers and cheques in the names of fake or non-existent policyholders and fraudulently diverted LIC funds. The alleged fraud caused a financial loss of approximately ₹ 6,37,66,660, the CBI said. The agency filed a chargesheet on August 21, 2014, against the accused, including officials of LIC’s trans-Gomti branch, it said.
The court convicted the four accused after trial and subsequently pronounced the sentences, according to the CBI.
