The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police is conducting a search at the residence of Rajneet Singh, former director of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank. On Sunday, the Esplanade Court granted the police his custody till 25th November, following which the EOW carried out searches at Sion-based residence of Rajneet Singh.
Last week, Rajneet Singh was arrested by the EOW in connection with the Rs4,355 crore PMC Bank fraud. He is son of Sardar Tara Sing, former member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Mulund.
Rajneet Singh was director of PMC Bank before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put restrictions on the lender. He was also on the recovery committee of the Bank.
This is the ninth arrest in the case by police.
Last week, the EOW arrested Jayesh Sanghani and Ketan Lakdawala, the two auditors who did the statutory audit of fraud-hit PMC Bank.
In a statement, the police had said, "Jayesh Dhirajlal Sanghani and Ketan Pravinchand Lakdawala were called for investigation… during the course of investigation, their association with Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) came into light and both could not provide convincing explanation regarding their role as statutory auditors of PMC Bank. Hence both were arrested for further investigation..."
Jayesh Sanghani is partner in Ashok Jayesh & Associates, while Ketan Lakdawala is partner in Lakdawala & Co.
Meanwhile,
according to The Tribune, Daljit Singh Bal, an absconding director of fraud-hit PMC Bank, has been located in Amritsar in Punjab. Quoting sources, the report says, Mr Bal obtained anticipatory bail from a court in Amritsar on learning that a team from the EOW was on his way to nab him from the holy town. The local court granted him bail after Mr Bal gave an undertaking that he would surrender before the Mumbai police in a fortnight’s time. Mr Bal was on the loans committee at PMC Bank.
The EOW is still trying to locate another director, Gurnam Singh Hoti, who too is believed to be holed up in Punjab. Mr Hoti is also trustee of several Sikh institutions in Mumbai and supposedly helped collect deposits for the Bank from them.
The report says that the EOW is also looking to extradite one director Dr Parmeet Sodhi, who is in Canada. Dr Sodhi too was on the loans and recovery committees of PMC Bank. In its application before the magistrate in Chandigarh, last week, the EOW had said Dr Sodhi was responsible for sanctioning loans and was one of the directors responsible for the Bank’s operations.
Last month, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had seized and identified movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs3,830 crore owned by HDIL, the company directors and promoters, as well as official of PMC Bank and others related entities in the fraud case.
The PMC Bank has been put under restrictions by the RBI since September after an alleged Rs4,355 crore scam came to light, following which the deposit withdrawal was initially capped at Rs1,000, causing panic and distress among depositors. The withdrawal limit has been raised in a staggered manner to Rs50,000.
Founded in 1984 by S Gurcharan Singh Kochhar, from a small room in Mumbai, the Bank had now grown to a network of 137 branches in six states and ranked among the top 10 cooperative banks in the country.
