The Assistant Registrar’s Court has issued arrest warrants for two government employees in connection with the Baghat Bank loan dispute. Despite many warnings, these staff did not deposit the money. The names of these employees were among the nine defaulters listed by the ARCS court on October 25th. Both work in the district of Shimla. One employee has borrowed almost ₹60 lakh, and the other has borrowed ₹4 lakh.
The list of defaulters also includes a former bank director. The prior director had borrowed sixteen lakh rupees. He did, however, deposit ₹2.5 lakh with the bank on Wednesday out of fear of being arrested. In the meantime, both employees’ debts have turned into non-performing assets, or NPAs. This has sparked concerns about how the bank operates. In both instances, the government employees’ income might have been used to cover the monthly loan installments, but this was not done. These workers are now at risk of being arrested and have been placed on the defaulter list.
They may be arrested once the order reaches the office of the Superintendent of Police, Shimla. On October 17th, the court of the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Solan, issued orders for the arrest of 13 defaulters of Baghat Bank. These include four from Solan district, seven from Shimla, and two from Sirmaur. The ARCS has written a letter to the Superintendent of Police, Solan, requesting their arrest. Acting promptly, the Solan police arrested two of the four defaulters. One, fearing arrest, deposited some money. The other remains under arrest. Of these, the seven defaulters from Shimla and two from Sirmaur have neither deposited their loan funds with the ARCS nor have they been arrested. No action will be taken until these orders are issued to the Superintendents of Police, Shimla and Sirmaur.
Bank President Arun Sharma met with representatives of the Vivekananda Kalyan Sangh, led by Vivek Doval and Abhishek Thakur, to discuss the ongoing Baghat Bank matter. They called for action to safeguard account holders’ interests and voiced grave worry about the state of affairs at the bank. Vivekananda Kalyan Sangh put pressure on the bank’s management to provide accountability and openness during the meeting.
The RBI prohibited taking out more than 10,000 rupees from the bank this month. ₹138 crore in bank loans are now non-performing assets (NPAs). The bank claims that of the ₹322 crore in 2022, ₹184 crore has been recovered. Of this sum, 499 borrowers are still owed ₹138 crore. For a number of years, they had not been making loan payments. Thus, the bank’s non-performing asset (NPA) rate has surpassed 13%.
On October 25th, arrest orders were issued for nine loan defaulters, including two government personnel. Soon, these defaulters will be taken into custody. – Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Girish Nadda
