New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS): A CBI court Thursday sentenced the chief manager of the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) branch here to three years rigorous imprisonment for entering into a conspiracy with three firms to defraud the bank and causing it a loss of Rs.35 lakh between March 2003-June 2004.

Convicting Sangeeta Bhatt, the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge at Tis Hazari court also slapped a fine of Rs. 1.50 lakh on her.

The agency had registered a case May 4, 2005 against Bhatt, the then chief manager of SBBJ, New Rohtak Road branch, and three private firms D.K. Enterprises, Aryan Sales Corporation and Bharat Sales.

"It was alleged that Bhatt favoured the three firms with malafide intention to cause loss of Rs.35 lakhs to the bank by permitting indiscriminate purchase of clean cheques," said a CBI official.

The CBI had filed the chargesheet against Bhatt and the three firms Oct 30, 2006 under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Bhatt allegedly exceeded her delegated powers as chief manager and facilitated all the accused to encash their cheques even without sufficient balance in their accounts, the CBI had said in its chargesheet.

The probe agency further alleged that Bhatt caused a Rs.35 lakh loss to the bank and undue gain to D.K. Sharma, the proprietor of D.K. Enterprises and two others.

She only paid attention to safeguarding the interests of the three firms and compromised the safety and security of the bank, it said.

Bhatt did not report the transaction of cash withdrawals to the controlling authority which she was supposed to do under the prescribed rules of the bank, the CBI said.

The proprietors of the three firms could not be prosecuted since they had expired, said the official.