IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS RESERVED ON : 17.09.2021 PRONOUNCED ON : 24.09.2021 CORAM THE HON'BLE Mr. JUSTICE C.V.KARTHIKEYAN Crl.O.P.No.16189 of 2021 and Crl.M.P.No.8802 of 2021 Ms.Poonam Anand .. Petitioner / 4^th Accused Vs.

State represented by The Superintendent of Police CBI, Anti-Corruption Branch 'A' Wing, 3^rd Floor, Shastri Bhavan, No.26, Haddows Road, Chennai – 600 006. .. 1^st Respondent/Complainant Bank of India Rep.by its Zonal Manager-Chennai Zone Mr.Subrata Kumar Roy “Star House”, II Floor, 30 (Old No.17)

Errabalu Street, Chennai – 600 001.

.. 2nd respondent / De-facto complainant Prayer: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C., to call for the records in Crime No.RC0322021A007 of 2021 dated 04.05.2021 on the file of the 1^st respondent and quash the same in so far as the petitioner is concerned.

For Petitioner .. Mr.R.Palaniyandavan For Mr.R.Revanth Kumar For Respondent .. Mr.K.Srinivasan Spl. Public Prosecutor for CBI Cases

ORDER

This Criminal Original Petition has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C., to quash the First Information Report in Crime No.RC0322021A0007 dated 04.05.2021 registered by the Superintendent of Police, CBI, Anti-Corruption Branch, Chennai under Sections 120B, 420 IPC and under Sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of PC Act, 1988 by the named 4^th accused.

2.The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint dated

04.01.2021 given by the Zonal Manager of Bank of India, Usman Road Branch, T.Nagar, Chennai. In the complaint it had been alleged that A1, Hallmark Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., had availed loan against property of Rs.2.00 Crores and Project Term Loan of Rs.10.00 Crores for development of 56 premium residential apartments at Mahendra World City, Chengalpattu Taluk, Kanchipuram District and also further loan against property of Rs.2.94 Crores.

3.It had been further stated in the complaint that A1 and its directors who had named as A2 to A5 had diverted and misappropriated the funds received on the sale of the flats. It was very specifically stated that an internal investigation conducted by the bank revealed that 46 flats out of 56 flats had already been sold and out of that, 34 flats were sold without obtaining No Objection Certificate from the bank. It was also stated that the disbursed amount and the sale proceeds were not utilized for the purpose for which loans were sanctioned and that the funds were diverted for various purpose.

4.It was also alleged that A1 / Company had not routed the sale proceeds of sale of the flats into the Escrow Account maintained by the bank as per the terms of sanction and had also operated the Escrow Account through Internet Banking which was against the extant guidelines. It was also stated that the accused and other public servants had hatched criminal conspiracy to cheat the Bank of India, Usman Road Branch, T.Nagar, Chennai by availing loan and diverting the disbursed amount and the sale proceeds for other purposes than for which they were sanctioned. It was stated that the Book Outstanding was Rs.12.52 Crores which was claimed to be wrongful loss to the bank and corresponding wrongful gain for the accused.

5.On the basis of the said complaint, a FIR was registered by the respondent / the Superintendent of Police, CBI, Anti-Corruption Branch, Chennai under Sections 120B, 420 IPC and under Sections 13(2) read with

13(1)(d) of PC Act, 1988.

6.The same is now sought to be quashed by the 4^th accused.

7.It is the contention of the petitioner / A4 was that she was appointed as Professional Director of A1 on 23.06.2015, whereas, the loans were sanctioned in the year 2013. It was also pointed out that the FIR does not attribute any specific role / over tact against her. There was also no averment that she was in-charge of day to day activities of A1. She claimed that she was not in-charge of the affairs / decisions of A1. She further stated that merely because a person is appointed as director it would not automatically make such person as