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An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Bank of Maharashtra Friday decided to divest two of its senior-most officials — CEO and managing director Ravindra Prabhakar Marathe, and executive director Rajendra Gupta — of all their powers. The two officials had been arrested by the Pune Police last week in connection with investigations into the alleged Rs 2,043-crore fraud against Pune-based DSK group. Marathe was released on bail on Wednesday while Gupta, along with two other bankers, got bail on Friday.
The EGM was held to assess the situation arising out of these arrests. In a listing filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Bank of Maharashtra said that “in view of the recent developments” both Marathe and Gupta were divested of all functional responsibilities of the bank “with immediate effect”.
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The bank said executive director A C Rout had been entrusted with all the functional responsibilities of CEO and managing director, and that the board had requested the Department of Financial Services to make necessary arrangements for smooth functioning of the bank.
The economic offences wing of Pune police had arrested Marathe, his predecessor Sushil Muhnot, Gupta, and Nityanand Deshpande, a zonal manager of Bank of Maharashtra for their role in sanctioning, what the police said was, an ‘illegal’ loan to the DSK group which is being investigated for fraud and cheating its investors. Police has claimed that these bankers flouted norms and violated RBI guidelines.
Bank of Maharashtra has maintained there was no wrongdoing. It also said that it had already initiated the process for recovery of this loan. Friday’s EGM, chaired by Vandita Kaul, a government appointed director, was held days after a scheduled AGM last week, during which some shareholders had questioned the top management about its exposure to DSK group.
