PMC Bank accused's custody extended, depositors agitated

Mumbai: Depositors of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank protested outside a court here on Wednesday, demanding stringent action against the culprits, as police custody of three accused in Rs 4,355 crore scam at the bank was extended till October 14.

The Esplanade magistrate's court granted the request of the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing for further remand.

Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) chairman and managing director Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang were arrested in the case last Thursday, while former chairman of PMC Bank Waryam Singh was held on Saturday.

The trio were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate S G Shaikh as their custody ended on Wednesday. EOW officials said they needed to interrogate the accused further, so the court extended the remand till October 14.

Outside, customers of the bank, who are facing severe restrictions on withdrawal of funds since the dire situation of the bank came to light, staged a protest, demanding that there should be "only jail and no bail" for the accused.

Some of them were carrying placards.

"Arrest Wadhawans but release our funds, SOS Modiji," said one placard.

"This scam is on you Mr Modi", said another, while a third one said "RBI is responsible for this mess, what is our fault".

The EOW last week registered a case against the Wadhawans and top officials of PMC Bank for allegedly causing losses to the tune of Rs 4,355.43 crore to the bank.

Besides the trio, EOW has also arrested Joy Thomas, former managing director of the bank, whose police custody will expire on October 17.

The EOW had earlier told the court that bank officials replaced 44 loan accounts of HDIL with 21,049 fictitious loan accounts, to camouflage huge loan defaults by the real estate group which landed the bank in the current crisis.