11 May 2012. A Delhi court has awarded a 61-year-old author and businessman, K.G. Sharma, a three-year jail term for cheating a bank to get loan and other credit facilities in a two-decade-old corruption case. K.G.Sharma, an engineer, conspired with J.S.Bindra, then branch manager of New Bank of India to get loans without fulfilling the required criteria for setting up business and getting bill discounts between 1986 and 1989.

Bindra has passed away since. K.G.Sharma was fined $3,400 after he pleaded for leniency on grounds that he is a “renowned scholar”, a “social scientist” and author of 42 books.

CBI had also named businessman Raman Chadha as accused in the case, but the court acquitted him saying the CBI had failed to prove that Chadha had committed any criminal offence. The court, however, said the prosecution had proved its case against Sharma “beyond reasonable doubt”.