The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed an FIR on Monday against the top brass of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMCB) and realty firm HDIL for fraudulently causing losses of Rs 4,355.43 crore to the bank. The same day, a writ petition and a PIL were filed in the Bombay High Court seeking protection of the depositors' money and action against several officials. The FIR, lodged under sections 401, 420, 465, 466, 471, 120B of Indian Penal Code, names the bank's now-suspended managing director Joy Thomas, chairman Waryam Singh and other senior executive. It also mentions involvement of HDIL managing director and vice-chairman Sarang Wadhawan. The EOW has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the matter. The complaint states that between 2008 and 2019, bank officials knowingly violated banking norms and made profits to mislead the authorities, even though the bank was actually incurring losses. In the court now Waheguru Ji Bhalli Karan, a PMCB customer, filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court on Monday seeking protection of depositors' money. The bank had deposits of Rs 1,25,000 crore including Rs 3,000 crore of reserve money with the RBI. The depositors, led by the Gurudawara Samiti and other Sikhs in Mumbai, are also planning to file a public interest litigation against the bank management and the board led by Waryam Singh, seeking to attach their properties and also of any relatives found to be wrongly involved. Separately, an NGO and nine individuals also moved the HC against the state and central governments, the RBI and its governor, and an administrator appointed by the RBI and the bank, JB Bhoria. Their petition states they are aggrieved by the directions issued by the RBI which imposed a Rs 10,000 withdrawal limit for six months on account holders. "This is the only Sikh community bank and the 14 board who all are from the sikh community. The board has led the community down and destroyed the savings of the common man. The board would have got commissions for the loans sanctioned but the depositors have nothing," said a depositor a small time business man in Chembur. The RBI is yet to trace if Akal Finance, owned by the chairman of the bank Waryam Singh, funnelled money to HDIL through this company. According to sources, the bank has given a loan of Rs 500 crore to Akal Finance which provides retail loans like home loans. The regulator is also to ascertain whether more money (above Rs 6,500 crore which was revealed by the management) is the final quantum of loans to HDIL. The PMCB did not have sufficient securities to back the Rs 6,000 crore loans it gave to the beleaguered construction company HDIL. Suspended PMCB MD Joy Thomas told RBI in a letter that the bank is now trying to create a second charge on the assets that it shares with other nationalised banks whose exposure to HDIL is only Rs 500 crore. He added that since the other banks have excess securities compared to the loans, he is trying to claim a portion of these securities which are land parcels. In a letter to the RBI management on September 19, Thomas said the stressed legacy accounts belonging to the group were replaced with dummy accunts to match the outstanding balances in the balancesheet. As the loans were mentioned as loans against the depsoits and were of lower amounts, they were not scrutinised by RBI in its annual inspection. In March 2019 the loans extended to HDIL was Rs 6500 crore and it came down to Rs 6226 crore after it adjusted Rs 150 crore of fixed deposit that the company had kept with the bank. Navi Mumbai's 11 gurudwaras lost Rs 15 crore and in Mumbai 150 gurudwaras and Sikh institutions lost around Rs 200 crore. Customers with a Rs 10,000 in the bank comprised 63% of the depositors owning about Rs 915 crore of the deposits of the bank.

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