Former India cricketer's father sentenced to 7-year prison in bank fraud case

In what seems to be a major blow for the former India cricketer Naman Ojha, his father Vinay Ojha has been sentenced to seven-year jail by a court in Betul. The court has announced its verdict in the case of an ‘embezzlement scandal’. The scandal was reported to have taken place in a ‘Bank of Maharashtra branch.

Betul’s sessions court announced the verdict on Tuesday, December 24 after more than a decade-long court case in a scandal, that made it to the public sphere almost 11 years back in 2013.

Sessions court announces verdict on 11-year-long legal tussle

Everyone who came across this information was left stunned when a group of branch employees frauded and embezzled an amount of INR 1.25 crores. Naman’s father Vinay Ojha was the then assistant manager and happened to be one of the six accused people in this criminal activity.

In its verdict on Tuesday, the sessions sentenced four accused in the case. All four, including Vinay Ojha a seven-year imprisonment. Besides getting imprisoned, Ojha will be paying a fine of INR 7 lakhs.

The main accused and alleged ‘mastermind’ of this entire embezzlement Abhishek Ratnam was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, along with a fine of INR 80 Lakhs. The case could have a decisive impact on Naman Ojha’s cricketing profile out of the field, be it coaching or other post-retirement services.

Speaking of Naman Ojha’s cricketing career, he could play only 4 international matches for India, including a Test and an ODI, alongside two T20Is. Besides that, Ojha played 146 First-Class and 143 List-A matches for Maharashtra, scoring 9753 First-Class runs and 4278 List-A runs.

The wicketkeeper-batter also featured in the Indian Premier League for various franchises, including the Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He has played 113 matches in IPL, scoring 1554  in 94 innings, hitting six half-centuries.