PUNE: Hanumant Kharat, the father of Manoj Kharat, one of the employees named by CBI in the Rs 11,300-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, insisted on Friday that his son was innocent and was being made a scapegoat.
"Manoj is in Mumbai and we have asked him to cooperate with the investigating agency for whatever information or knowledge he has about the matter," Hanumant told TOI over the phone from Karjat, about 144km from here. The Kharat family has been staying in Karjat for the past 10 years.
Hanumant, an employee of the Ahmednagar zila parishad's irrigation department, said, "Manoj has been speaking to our family members about the matter over the past few days. He told us that he did not do anything wrong but only carried out whatever instructions were given to him by his seniors."
He last called us on Thursday, Hanumant said, adding that Manoj joined PNB in 2014 as a clerk after completing his computer engineering from a Pune college. "He told us that he had no power to deal with amounts beyond Rs 25,000 and was in no way connected with the allegations being made or levelled against him," Hanumant said.
According to CBI, PNB's then deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty and single-window operator Manoj had issued eight letters of undertaking (LOUs) worth over Rs 280 crore to Nirav Modi's company just three months before Shetty retired in May last year. The LOUs were issued in February. The due date mentioned was January 2018.
An LOU is an assurance by one party to another that they will fulfil an obligation previously agreed upon.
"Manoj has not received money from anyone. The investigating agency can check his and our bank accounts. My son has only carried out his seniors' instructions. How can a clerk issue LOUs, that too of such big amounts? We will soon travel to Mumbai to meet him and know more about the case," Hanumant said.
A bachelor, Manoj has been staying in Mumbai since joining PNB in 2014. A neighbour of the Kharat family in Karjat said, "Manoj has always been a sincere and studious person. Manoj used to actively participate in social activities. He is simple and sober. We doubt if he has done anything wrong."
(This article was originally published in The Times of India)
