CBI remand for Madhavpura Bank chairman

MUMBAI, APRIL 6. Mr. Ramesh Parekh, chairman of the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank, was today remanded to CBI custody till April 9 for allegedly conniving with the leading stock broker, Mr. Ketan Parekh, and others to defraud the Bank of India to the tune of Rs. 137 crores in a pay order scam.

Mr. Ramesh was arrested last night after he surrendered before the CBI. He was produced before the Special Judge, Mr. A.R. Joshi, who remanded him to CBI custody.

Mr. Ketan Parekh, his relative, Mr. Kartik Parekh, (director of Panther Investrade Ltd.) and Mr. Jagdish Pandya (manager of Madhavpura's Cooperative Bank's Mandvi branch here) have already been remanded to CBI custody till April 9.

On a plea by the defence counsel, Mr. Avinash Rasal, the judge allowed the accused medicines and home food, subject to security check by the CBI. He said the accused was a diabetic and had undergone bypass surgery recently.

The Judge also directed the CBI to get the accused medically examined in a hospital if he complained of any ailment.

The defence lawyer submitted that the accused had himself surrendered before the CBI and denied that Mr. Ramesh had evaded arrest. He had gone to Bhavnagar to visit his ailing sister and was not aware about the CBI probe into the alleged scam.

The CBI prosecutors, Mr. Gul Asnani and Mr. Bharat Singh Raghuvanshi, contended that Mr. Ramesh was not cooperative and was evading interrogation. They sought his custody till April 12, but the defence lawyer said he would not object if the accused was remanded till April 9.

The CBI said in the remand application that Mr. Ramesh and the co-accused, Mr. Jagdish Pandya, were blaming each other for issuing pay orders to the Bank of India, although there was insufficient money in Mr. Ketan Parekh's account with the Madhavpura Bank.

Mr. Pandya told the CBI that he was pressurised by the chairman of the Madhavpura Bank, Mr. Ramesh Parekh, to issue pay orders, despite insufficient balance in the accounts of the broker.

Mr. Ramesh, on the other hand, blamed the managing director of the bank, Mr. Devendra Pandya, for issuing such instructions to favour Mr. Ketan. Mr. Devendra Pandya was at large and the CBI was looking for him, the remand application said. The CBI said investigations were at a crucial stage. The CBI had to gather information about the properties held by Mr. Ramesh and determine whether they were acquired with the scam money, the court was informed.

According to the CBI, six pay orders were issued by the Madhavpura Bank on March 8 and seven more the next day. They were presented to the Bank of India which credited the total amount of Rs. 137 crores in the accounts of Classic Credit Ltd. (Rs. 65 crores), Panther Fin Cap and Management Services Ltd. (Rs. 52 crores) and Panther Investrade (Rs. 20 crores). When the pay orders were sent for clearing, the Madhavpura Cooperative Bank failed to meet its liability and also did not participate in the clearing operations.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : All MIT courses to be available on the Web, for
           free
Next     : A race for plum posts at grass-roots level