Bank of Maharashtra CMD, executive director nabbed in Rs 3,000 crore DS Kulkarni bank fraud case

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Pune police has arrested the CEO and MD of Bank of Maharashtra Ravindra Marathe along with five others for their involvement in the Rs 3,000 crore DSK Group loan default case. Police also arrested bank's Executive Director Rajendra K Gupta and Zonal Manager Nityanand Deshpande was also nabbed by Pune EOW in the case. Bank's former CMD Sushil Mahnot was also arrested from Jaipur in connection with the case. Among the persons arrested today in the same case were two officials of the DS Kulkarni Developers Ltd - Vice President (Engineering) Rajiv Newaskar and chartered accountant Sunil Ghatpande.

The Bank of Maharashtra officials have been accused by the Pune EOW of colluding with the DS Kulkarni Group by entering fraudulent transactions and sanctioning loans that were later siphoned off. All persons arrested today have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act along with sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating), and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

"Bank officers colluded with DSK Developers Ltd by misusing their power & authority with dishonest and fraudulent intention to sanction & disburse the amount of bank under the garb of loan which was siphoned off," a statement by Pune EOW said.

DS Kulkarni, the Pune-based realtor and the owner of DSK Group, was arrested earlier this year in February along with his wife Hemanti. Charges levelled against him included swindling Rs 1,154 crore from over 4,000 investors Rs 470 crore from homebuyers, along with siphoning loan funds worth Rs 2,892 crore.

In May this year, the Maharashtra government had issued a notification to attach 124 properties, 276 bank accounts and 46 vehicles belonging to the DSK Group.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Maharashtra stock which opened at 12.75 level fell to a fresh 52-week low of 12.50 level in trade today. The bank's market capitalisation on the BSE fell to Rs 3,346 crore. The stock has been losing for the last two days and has fallen 4.22% during the period.