Visakhapatnam, March 17 (IANS) The CBI Court, Visakhapatnam, convicted and sentenced two persons, including a former bank employee, to imprisonment for five years in a bank fraud case.

Vempadapu Santhoshi Ramu, the then clerk-cum-cashier of Andhra Bank at Cheepurupalli in Vizianagaram district, who was dismissed from service and a private person, namely, Mahanthi Ramana of Nadipaina Peta have been sentenced to imprisonment.

The CBI Court, in its order pronounced on Monday, also imposed a total fine of Rs. 1,71,42,000 on the convicts, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in a release on Tuesday.

The CBI had registered the instant case on June 13, 2018 against the accused. It was alleged that the accused Vempadapu Santhoshi Ramu, the then clerk-cum-cashier entered into a criminal conspiracy with Mahanthi Ramana and thereby committed criminal breach of trust and misappropriated an amount of Rs. 1,71,41,162 entrusted to him, which was to be deposited into the account of Cheepurupalli Rural Electric Co-operative Society Ltd.

The Cheepurupalli Rural Electric Co-operative Society Ltd was entrusted with the job of collecting power consumption charges from remote consumers in Vizianagaram district.

After completion of its investigation, the CBI filed the chargesheet on January 10, against Vempadapu Santhoshi Ramu and Mahanthi Ramana.

After the trial, the CBI Court convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly, the Central agency said.

In December, 2025, the CBI Court had sent a former official of the Steel Authority of India Limited to three years’ imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case.

The court convicted and sentenced Ragam Kishore, the then Regional Manager, Branch Transport and Shipping, Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), Visakhapatnam, to undergo three years’ imprisonment in the disproportionate assets case.

The CBI had registered the instant case on July 17, 2001. It was alleged that during the period from January 1, 1988, to April 19, 2000, the accused R. Kishore, while functioning as a public servant in different capacities in SAIL, was in possession of movable and immovable properties in his name and in the name of his family members, disproportionate to his known sources of income.

–IANS

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