‘Wanted PMC director likely to surrender within 15 days’

Daljit Singh Bal, one of the directors of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, is likely to surrender within a fortnight, said a source from the Mumbai

Daljit Singh Bal, one of the directors of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, is likely to surrender within a fortnight, said a source from the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW). Bal is wanted in the ₹4,355-crore fraud case and is currently absconding.

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On Wednesday, he secured a transit anticipatory bail from a local court in Punjab. Bal, who was reportedly hiding in Punjab, moved the local court after a team from the Mumbai EOW went to nab him, sources told Hindustan Times. He managed to get the interim protection after assuring the court that he would surrender to the EOW within a fortnight.

Five people have been arrested in the case so far – Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoters Rakesh Kumar and Sarang Wadhawan; the bank’s former managing director Joy Thomas; ex-chairman Waryam Singh; and former director Surjit Singh Arora. As per the EOW’s investigation, the bank’s loan committee, which included Arora and Bal, had cleared several loans that later turned into non-performing assets, causing wrongful loss to the bank. Many of these were given to HDIL.

EOW OBJECTS TO ANOTHER DIRECTOR’S PRE-ARREST BAIL PLEA

The EOW on Friday objected to the anticipatory bail plea filed by Parmeet Sodhi, another director of PMC Bank. In its reply to the court, EOW stated that Sodhi has been a director at PMC Bank since 2005, served as a member of the loan committee from 2005 to 2015, and was on recovery committee from 2015 to 2019. The agency said Sodhi is responsible for the fraud during her tenure.