The Economic Offences Wing of the Pune Police on Wednesday arrested six people, including the chief executive officer and managing director of Bank of Maharashtra, in connection with a case against real estate developer DS Kulkarni and his wife, PTI reported.
Besides the bank’s CEO Ravindra Marathe, its Executive Director Rajendra Gupta, former Chief Managing Director Sushil Muhnot, and Zonal Manager Nityanand Deshpande, Kulkarni’s chartered accountant and the vice president of the engineering department of his firm were arrested.
In May, the Pune Police had filed a 37,000-page chargesheet against Kulkarni and his wife. They were accused of floating nine different firms to collect funds from 33,000 investors and fixed-deposit holders. The Kulkarnis were arrested from Delhi in February.
“As part of our probe into the cheating case against Kulkarni, it came to light that these bank officials colluded with DS Kulkarni Developers Ltd by misusing their powers and authority with dishonest and fraudulent intention to sanction and disburse the amount under the garb of a loan,” said Sudhir Hiremath, deputy commissioner of police (Cyber and Economic Offences).
The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, the police said.
The shares of Bank of Maharashtra fell 7% intraday. It touched a 52-week low of Rs 12.60, Moneycontrol reported.
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