Ahmedabad, September 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A CBI court has convicted and sentenced private company Kushal Diamonds Ltd. and two of its directors in a case involving criminal conspiracy and cheating, the agency said on Wednesday.
The court on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Kushal Diamonds Ltd. Its Chief Managing Director, Bakul Zaveri, and Director, Mazhar S. Kapadia, were each sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 30 lakh.
The CBI had registered the case on March 15, 2000, against Virendra Kumar Sawhney, Rohit Dhingra and Ram Avatar Agarwal, who were then public servants with the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) in Ahmedabad.
The agency alleged that Sawhney, then Joint Director, Dhingra, then Joint Manager (Finance), and Agarwal, then Regional General Manager, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the directors of Kushal Diamonds Ltd., Mumbai.
According to the investigation, NSIC had disbursed Rs 2,34,85,081 to the company under its Bill Discounting Facility and Raw Material Assistance Scheme.
Of this amount, Rs 1,34,88,717 was adjusted through various means, including adjustment against past outstanding dues, payments received through cheques and demand drafts, payments from overseas buyers and adjustment of earnest money deposits.
The outstanding amount payable by Kushal Diamonds Ltd. as of March 31, 1996, stood at Rs 99,96,364, which was treated as wrongful loss to NSIC Ltd.
Following the investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet on January 8, 2002, against eight accused. They included Kushal Diamonds Ltd., its directors Bakul Zaveri, Mazhar S. Kapadia and Subhash Chhanana, along with four NSIC public servants — Sawhney, Dhingra, Agarwal and Rajesh Arora.
At the conclusion of the trial, the court convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly. However, the four public servants were acquitted of the charges against them.
The case against private accused Subhash Chhanana was abated after his death during the course of the trial.
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