PMC Bank fraud case: Pre-arrest bail pleas of 2 directors rejected

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday dismissed the anticipatory bail applications filed by two directors of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday dismissed the anticipatory bail applications filed by two directors of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.

HT Image

After perusing investigation papers pertaining to the ₹7,457-crore PMC Bank fraud case, justice Sadhana Jadhav pronounced an operative order of rejecting the anticipatory bail pleas filed by Gurnam Singh Hothi and Daljit Singh Bal and observed that neither of the directors deserved the discretionary relief of pre-arrest bail. A detailed reasoning for the dismissal of the pleas is awaited.

Hothi and Bal had moved HC after the sessions court rejected their anticipatory bail pleas. The sessions court granted them interim protection from arrest till June 15, which was extended by HC from time to time. But on Thursday, justice Jadhav also withdrew the interim protection, thus paving the way for the arrest of the two accused in the case.

The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police had on September 30 last year registered an offence in connection with the fraud at the multi-state scheduled cooperative bank, accusing many of its directors of illegally extending huge loans to realty firm Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) and its group companies.

According to the Reserve Bank of India, PMC Bank had masked 44 problematic loan accounts involving advances worth ₹7,457.49 crore to some entities, including HDIL, by tampering with its core banking system and these accounts were accessible only to limited staff members.

The bank had created 21,049 fictitious accounts in a bid to ensure that its master data tallies to the loan disbursals, the RBI stated in an affidavit filed in response to other PMC Bank-related petitions before HC.