Two couples,all former employees of a government-owned bank,were today sentenced to five-year jail by a special CBI court in a fraud case. The CBI judge also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 each after convicting the four persons of cheating,forgery and fraud. Vijay Deshpande and his wife Jyothi were arrested by the CBI in 1999,special public prosecutor Kiran Makasare said. Vijay Welligkar and his wife were also arrested in the same year. "They had been arrested for issuing false cheques in each other's name and clearing them,because of which the bank (Central Bank of India) suffered a loss of Rs 1.65 crore," Makasare said. The advocate said the fraud went on from 1991 to 1999. The prosecution examined 20 witnesses in the case.
