Threatened by savings a/c holders, Royal Bank agents seek police protection

Managing director Parul Shah accused of putting bank money to personal use

The daily savings agents of the crisis-hit Royal Co-operative Bank Ltd have demanded police protection. The agents made representations to Surat commissioner of police V K Gupta and district collector Pankaj Joshi in this regard on Tuesday.

"We are being threatened by the daily savings account holders, who are demanding their money back. They believe that their money is stuck in Royal Bank because of us. There is danger to our lives and hence we have demanded police protection," the agents said.

K R Anil, president of Royal Bank Dainik Bachat Hitvardhak Samiti, which represents the daily savings agents, said, "The bank has been facing a crisis since the past one month. We had approached bank chairman Jitu Modi and managing director Parul Shah for repayments, but they only gave us assurances and sought time."

"After Royal Bank was suspended from clearing house on October 6, we again approached the MD, who misbehaved with us. She also gave vague replies to the daily savings account holders and misled them," said Anil.

"The total deposit in daily savings accounts is around Rs 4.70 crore. We are demanding that this money be repaid to the account holders at the earliest. The bank management is willing to repay the money in instalments and is even ready to sign a MoU with us, but this does not guarantee that the account holders would get their money back," he said.

"The bank is caught in a crisis due to mismanagement by managing director Parul Shah. She has diverted the bank's funds for personal use. Strict steps should be taken against her, and others responsible for the scam, for recovery of money," Anil said.

"To press for our demand, the daily savings agents will be organising a symbolic fast outside the bank on Wednesday. We will also launch an agitation if our demand is not met," he added.

The Royal Bank has approximately 12,000 daily savings account holders, while the number of agents is 31.

Royal Bank chairman Jitu Modi, said, "We have repaid around Rs 3.50 crore to our fixed deposit account holders, whose account had matured, on Tuesday.

" We had paid Rs 15 lakh on Monday. We will continue to repay the FD holders in the coming days, which will be followed by payments to other account holders."