A former State Bank of India (SBI) Chief Manager had been sentenced to one year in prison for misappropriating ₹61.57 lakh from a deceased customer’s account and an internal bank account by a Mysuru court. The court also imposed a ₹50,000 fine on the former bank official.
The convicted former manager is named A.V. Kulkarni, also known as Aniruddha Vasantrao Kulkarni. He was the Chief Manager of SBI's Chamundipuram branch in Mysuru when the financial irregularities took place. The transactions in the case occurred between May 13, 2009, and December 23, 2011, when Kulkarni used his position at the bank to divert funds.
According to the court report, ₹40.53 lakh was transferred from the account of one customer, Krishna Iyer, who died on April 7, 2005. A further ₹21.04 lakh came from the bank’s internal account. The total amount involved was ₹61,57,127. The prosecution said the money was transferred to the accounts of Kulkarni and his son before it was withdrawn.
The customer whose account was allegedly used had died some years before the disputed transactions became a key aspect of the case. The prosecution alleged that funds were moved from Krishna Iyer’s account from 2009 to 2011, even after he died in 2005. The alleged transactions were later uncovered during an internal investigation by senior SBI officials.
The irregularities were reported to have come to light after SBI authorities looked into alleged discrepancies at the Chamundipuram branch. Reports suggest that the bank’s vigilance process was involved as the transactions were revealed. Krishna Iyer’s legal heirs approached the bank to find out about the money in his account, and it was found that a lot of it had been diverted.
After the bank inquiry, a police case was registered at the KR Police Station in Mysuru. The investigation was carried out by then Sub-Inspector Prashanth, who later filed a charge sheet before the court. The case was registered as C.C. No. 360/2013 and went through the judicial process before the Mysuru court.
One of the most interesting developments in the case was that the money that was misused was paid back to SBI. Kulkarni admitted to having withdrawn money from the bank and repaid about ₹62 lakh to SBI, but the criminal proceedings were not over. This court then had to assess the evidence and decide criminal liability separately from the recovery of the money.
After hearing the arguments and examining the evidence presented during the trial, the First Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Mysuru found Kulkarni guilty of criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code. Judge V. Prakash delivered the judgment on September 25, 2026, and sentenced the former Chief Manager to one year of rigorous imprisonment.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed a ₹50,000 fine. In the judgment section of the notes, ₹40,000 from the fine was to be paid to the bank as compensation. The sentence is for transactions that happened over a decade ago, but the long-running case is now in the sentencing stage.
A deceased customer’s account and the bank’s own internal funds in the case have drawn attention because of the supposed transactions. Financial irregularities can still be investigated, and judicial proceedings can occur after a disputed amount is paid. In this case, the court’s conviction was based on evidence and arguments during the trial.
The Mysuru case is now among the most recent banking-related cases in Karnataka, with the former SBI Chief Manager being given a custodial sentence for misusing funds. That court’s order brings a case that began with transactions carried out between 2009 and 2011 to a major judicial conclusion.
