A day after Ravindra Marathe, the MD & CEO of Bank of Maharashtra, was arrested by the Pune police, bank employee unions strongly criticised the action and wrote to the government decrying the ‘unjustifiable harassment’.
On Wednesday, six officials from the State-run lender were arrested on allegations of misuse of powers in extending loan to real estate developer — D.S. Kulkarni Developers.
“What is surprising is that these executives, who as per information, are not connected with the cheating by DSK, and hence arresting them at this stage is unwarranted,” the general secretary of the All India Bank Employees’ Association said in a letter to Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar.
‘Fully secured’
During the bank’s AGM on Thursday, executive director A.C. Rout said the bank’s total exposure to D.S. Kulkarni Developers was about ₹94.52 crore, which was fully secured. BoM had also declared DSK Developers and its promoters as wilful defaulters and started auctioning some of the assets.
“If, according to Government, the Bank of Maharashtra executives are involved in the DSK scam and are part of any fraudulent activity, their arrest is justifiable. Otherwise, the government should step in and take up the matter with Government of Maharashtra and Pune police for necessary correction and remedy,” the letter said adding that defaming the public sector banks and harassing executives who were not involved in the scam would only demoralise the workforce.