Five accused in Suryapur Co-op Bank scam held

In a major breakthrough, police here have nabbed five persons, accused in the Rs 44 crore Suryapur Co-operative Bank scam. Three of the accused were arrested from Bharuch, while two others surrendered before the police.

A team of Surat police conducted raids in the doctors' quarters of Valia Medical College, Bharuch, late on Friday and arrested three accused "" Babu Gamit, Premal Chauhan and Jagdishchandra Jariwala, sources said.

Gamit was the bank chairman when the scam took place, Premal Chauhan was a director and Jariwala the chief executive.

Three mobile phones and Rs 5,750 in cash have been recovered from them, the sources said. After these raids, two other accused "" Ranjeetsinh Mangrola, a director, and Bhupendra Patel, the manager - surrendered to the police.

Police inspector J K Jhala said, "Acting on a tip-off that some of the accused are hiding in the quarters, we laid a trap. The accused told police that they have been hiding in Valia for the last 14 months and had also stayed in the Ahmedabad flat of the prime accused, Kanaksinh Mangrola, for some time."

Jhala said the accused have given some useful information to police, but refused to divulge details.

The Rs 60-crore Suryapur Co-operative Bank scam had left thousands in the lurch. The bank had downed its shutters since September 2002, but no concrete steps have been taken to refund over 19,000 depositors.

Though the bank remains closed for the last 18 months, no steps have been initiated to wind up the bank.

This has denied small depositors' chance of claiming money from Deposit & Credit Guarantee Corporation of India.