Mumbai: Former director of the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) bank Jaswindersingh Banwait was denied bail for the second time since last year in the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) case against him and others of causing a loss of over Rs. 4,600 crores to the bank by advancing huge loans to Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) group, which are outstanding.
The court found that most of the arguments in the present bail application were already dealt with by the court last year in the previous bail plea filed by him. It only considered the one new ground raised by him that of parity with other co-accused directors of the bank, who were granted bail by the HC last year.
While refusing to accept this argument, the Additional Sessions court Judge RM Sadrani differentiated the position of those directors in the bank with his. Two of them, Dr. Trupti Bane and Mukti Bavisi, the judge noted, had been appointed to the post of directors as women representatives and had held the post for only two years. A third director, Ranjeet Tara Singh Nandrajog, had been appointed as director as he belongs to the Sikh community and is a businessman.
“Applicant is a member of the executive committee of PMC bank and working on an administrative post of the bank,” the court said, adding that he was working with the bank since 2005, holding a major post and responsible for the affairs of the bank. It further stated that considering the responsibility cast on the applicant by the by-laws of the bank and towards its stakeholders and considering his role in the affairs of the bank, he is not entitled to be released on bail on the grounds of parity.
