Two get jail for cheating Iranian exporter

PTI

A Delhi court has sent two men to jail for 10 and eight years for duping an Iranian exporter of Rs 3.3 crore 23 years ago and directed them to pay over Rs 10 crore compensation to the foreign entity.

Metropolitan Magistrate Naresh Kumar Laka sent 69-year- old K G Dhananjayan, a resident of Kerala, and 59-year-old E V Jothi, a Chennai resident, to 10 and eight years in jail respectively.

"Both the convicts dishonestly and fraudulently entered into transactions with M/s Saleh Brothers, Zahidan (Iran) and cheated the complainant ... to give a message to the society that no leniency should be taken for such serious offences, they are sentenced for respective offences," the court said.

The two were convicted for offences of cheating, forgery, using forged documents as genuine and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

Considering the plea of CBI prosecutor Sagar Shankar seeking compensation for defraying the litigation expenses incurred by the agency during the probe, the court directed that out of a total compensation of Rs 10.77 crore, Rs 50 lakh be given to the investigating agency by the convicts and rest to the Iranian exporter.

It noted that the CBI officers had even visited Iran and many other places in India during the course of investigation.

The court ordered that the amount would be equally paid by the two convicts, and added that the copy of the verdict be sent to M/s Saleh Brothers in Iran through Ministry of External Affiars for information.

A complaint was filed by Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) that Dhananjayan and Jothi had conspired in 1993 94 and cheated the Saleh Brothers by importing 2138 metric tonnes of wet dates on the basis of a forged amended partnership deed of October 21, 1993.

It alleged that after getting delivery of the dates, the duo did not intentionally make payment to the exporter.

It was alleged that they had shown themselves as partners of a firm M/s Maximax Impex in Lajpat Nagar here and amended the original partnership deed by deleting the names of two of the four partners and inserting their names in it. An FIR was lodged in September 1995 and charges framed against them.

During trial, both Dhananjayan and Jothi had denied the allegations against them.