Madurai: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has sentenced a part-time bank employee to four years of imprisonment in a bribery case related to the sanctioning of education loans at a nationalized bank in Tuticorin district.

The case pertains to Narayanan (63), a part-time employee, and Samuel Vel Jebaraj, a senior manager at the branch in Nazerath, who allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹8,000 from two students seeking education loans for nursing courses in 2010. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a case against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A special CBI court in Madurai acquitted both in 2018, citing a lack of evidence. However, the CBI challenged the acquittal in the High Court.

Hearing the appeal, Justice K.K. Ramakrishnan observed that corruption undermines welfare schemes intended to benefit economically weaker sections. He noted that the education loan scheme was introduced to ensure financial constraints do not hinder students from pursuing higher education.

The court ruled that Narayanan had accepted the bribe on behalf of Jebaraj and that the charges were proven beyond reasonable doubt. The acquittal by the lower court was quashed. Since Jebaraj passed away during the appeal, proceedings against him were dropped.

Narayanan was sentenced to four years in prison and fined ₹1.5 lakh. The court also directed that ₹35,000 each be paid as compensation to the two affected students from the fine amount.