Former Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank director Surjit Singh Arora arrested by Mumbai Police

Surjit Singh Arora is the owner of Mini Punjab and he was associated with PMC Bank for over 10 years.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested former director of the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, Surjit Singh Arora, in connection with Rs 4,500 crore PMC Bank scam. The Mumbai Police's EOW arrested Arora after questioning him in connection with this case. Arora is the fifth person to be arrested for his alleged involvement in this case. 

Arora is the owner of Mini Punjab and he was associated with PMC Bank for over 10 years. He was absconding ever since the police registered the FIR in PMC Bank scam case. The ongoing probe in the case has revealed that some money was transferred into Arora's account from HDIL accounts in the last three-four years.

In a related development, a Mumbai court on Wednesday extended the police custody of former chairman of the PMC Bank Waryam Singh and Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) directors Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhwan till October 23. 

It may be recalled that after the scam erupted on September 23, the RBI had imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the PMC Bank and barred people from withdrawing more than Rs 1000 initially; later it was raised to Rs 25,000 and on Monday (October 14) to Rs 40,000.

PMC Bank officials are accused of giving loans to HDIL between 2008 and 2019 despite no repayment of the previous loans. Joy Thomas, the former managing director of PMC Bank, is also in police custody.

On Tuesday, in an interview to Zee News, Home Minister Amit Shah assured that all PMC Bank depositors will get their money back as soon as possible.