The Pune Police told a city court that it was done with questioning Ravindra Prabhakar Marathe, the arrested CEO of Bank of Maharashtra, and would not seek his further custody. The police stance, which came on the same day a senior Finance Ministry official said in Mumbai that the banker’s arrest was an “aberration”, raises chances of Marathe getting bail when the court decides on his plea on Tuesday.
Marathe, Sushil Muhnot and two other senior officials of the Bank of Maharashtra were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Pune Police on June 20 for their reported role in sanctioning a loan to the troubled DSK Group that is being investigated for cheating and fraud.
All arrested bank officials had been sent to police custody till June 27. Marathe was later put in magisterial custody on health grounds. He had to be taken to a hospital twice — on the day he was arrested and then again on Saturday. After the second time he was hospitalized, the police had told the court that Marathe could be moved to magisterial custody. The banker had applied for bail a day earlier, claiming that his arrest by Pune police was “illegal”.
Arguing his case in the court of special judge R N Sardesai, senior lawyer Harshad Nimbalkar said the Pune Police’s case against the DSK Group was regarding transactions between the company and its investors, and that neither Marathe nor the Bank of Maharashtra was in any way connected to it. The DSK Group is accused of cheating its investors of over Rs 2,000 crore.
“Marathe or Bank of Maharashtra is not even remotely linked with the investors. No investor has invested even a single rupee with Marathe or the bank. There is no transaction of money between investors and the bank and its officers,” Nimbalkar said.
“Meetings on loan proposal took place at the (bank’s) zonal office and then forwarded to the head office. The property was mortgaged as collateral (for the loan)… Auction of the (mortgaged) property is fixed on July 23. So steps for recovery of the loan are (already) being taken. So it cannot be said that bank has not followed the rules. There is no conspiracy between DSKDL and Bank of Maharashtra,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Pandit, an investor of the DSKDL company and also a customer of the Bank of Maharashtra, filed an application seeking permission from the court “intervene” in the case, and submit his arguments. The court, however, asked him to assist the prosecution lawyer.
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