NEW DELHI: Relatives of two loan scam accused who died during the 35-year pendency of the criminal case may receive an unexpected windfall of Rs 3 crore, which may swell beyond this sum with compound interest for 15 years.Supreme Court, while acquitting the lone surviving accused in the 1991 loan scam case, discovered that the bank had auctioned the assets of two others for Rs 3.6 crore to satisfy a Rs 50 lakh loan liability but did not return the rest to their legal heirs.The lone survivor was a branch manager, accused of sanctioning loans of Rs 13.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh but pocketing the amounts.After the registration of an FIR, the bank launched recovery proceedings in 2010. Auctioning the properties of one of the two accused fetched Rs 1.2 crore, from which Rs 16.4 lakh was adjusted towards satisfying the loan amount along with interest. In the recovery proceeding against a second person, the bank realised Rs 2.8 crore from the sale of his assets and adjusted Rs 40 lakh towards the loan liability.A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran said, “The loan was availed in the year 1991-1992 and the property was auctioned in the year 2010. Admittedly, the auction of properties was completed and the entire amounts due to the bank were received. More intriguing is the fact – as coming out from the testimony of the official witnesses – that the amounts received in auction in excess of the appropriation to the loan accounts are still remaining with the bank.
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“While granting a clean chit to the lone surviving accused bank official and terming the case a fabricated one, the bench said, “We are surprised that no attempt was made to find the legal heirs and pass on the money.”Supreme Court asked the manager of Indian Bank’s Anna Nagar Branch to produce records relating to the utilisation of the money received from the auction, and the title deeds of the properties mortgaged against loans. The court said though the criminal case was disposed of, it was posting the matter for further hearing on Oct 5 to ensure that the excess money received from auction reached the legal heirs.