The former MD of scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank, Joy Thomas, during preliminary interrogation revealed that he had converted to Islam in 2005 to marry his one time personal assistant. The police have discovered nine flats and a shop in Kondhwa region of Pune registered under his and his second wife’s name.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which is investigating the case has discovered that all the properties were bought within the period starting 2012. That is when Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) began the non-payment on loans and kept borrowing additional amounts from PMC Bank in collusion with Thomas.
Thomas aka Junaid Khan is presently in police custody in the Rs 4,355-crore PMC Bank scam case. Apart from Thomas, real estate group HDIL's promoters Rakesh Wadhawa and son Sarang, and the bank's former chairman Waryam Singh too has been incarcerated in connection with the case.
The former PMC MD revealed to the police about his affair and relationship with his former PA. To marry her, Joy Thomas converted to Islam and assumed the name Junaid Khan, the police said. The PA quit her job in 2005 on the pretext of marriage and informed her colleagues at office that she was shifting to Dubai, The Times of India has reported.
The properties bought in Pune region are mostly in the name of Junaid Khan and the changed name of his wife. His first wife had filed for a divorce and the case proceedings are in the final stages.
During interrogation, Thomas also confessed that his Islamic name ‘Junaid’ wasn't in any financial records as he continued to be Joy Thomas for all official terms.
Thomas was arrested in connection with the PMC scam on October 4 and on the next day, he was remanded to police custody till October 17. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached the bank's land of around 2,100 acres belonging to HDIL which could be worth over Rs 3,500 crore.
