Bail plea of Bank of Maharashtra MD Marathe to be heard today

PUNE: The bail plea hearing of Ravindra Marathe, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bank of Maharashtra (BOM), has been postponed for another day. SN Sardesai, special judge for Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act, who has been conducting the hearing of DSK investor fraud case, was on holiday following which the hearing is scheduled to take place on Wednesday. Marathe, who is in judicial custody, had applied for bail through his lawyers led by advocate Harshad Nimbalkar

Sardesai on Monday had reserved the bail order of Marathe for Tuesday. Marathe was arrested last week by the Economic offences wing (EOW) along with other officials in connection with the alleged ₹2,043 crore investor fraud scam. Marathe was remanded to magisterial custody on June 23.

Marathe’s arrest had sparked a row with BOM employees and Indian Bank Association (IBA) accusing the Pune police of high handedness and overreach. However, special public prosecutor Pravin Chavan has maintained that the arrest of senior bank officials had been in line with the directions of the Supreme Court. DSK fraud victims and right to information (RTI) activist Vijay Kumbhar have said that the arrest will bring greater transparency and accountability in the banking sector and demanded the investigation net be widened to nail all those who are involved in the alleged economic fraud.

The prosecution in its submission before the court had stated that forensic audit and investigation into the monetary transactions of the DSK group was in violation of the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI), circulars and banking norms. The bank officials misused their official power and authority and colluded with DSK Developers Limited to sanction and disburse funds. The prosecution added that the early warning signs were ignored at the time of granting loans to the group in grave violations of the RBI rules. The loan was granted when the group was on the verge of collapse, the prosecution said.

Besides Marathe, those arrested include Sushil Muhnoot, bank’s former chairman and MD; Rajendra Gupta, executive director, and Nityanand Deshpande, bank’s zonal manager, who was taken into custody from Ahmedabad.