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Madhavpura Co-operative Bank chief Ramesh Parekh surrenders

Ramesh Parekh, the absconding chairman of the Madhavpura Co-operative Bank which had issued pay-orders worth Rs 1.37 billion to big bull Ketan Parekh, surrendered before CBI in Bombay on Thursday.

Parekh had been absconding along with CEO D B Pandya ever since the pay-order scam broke out.

"He came in this morning and surrendered and the Bank Fraud and Securities Cell is presently questioning him," a CBI official said.

According to the official, Parekh has claimed he had all along been in Bhavnagar visiting a relative.

Maintaining that he had not been arrested, CBI sources said, "A decision to this affect would be taken only when his examination was over."

Meanwhile, Kirit Parekh, the ailing associate of Ketan, who was questioned by the agency on Wednesday, was not called for further examination, the sources said.

Another accused in the FIR Navin Parekh was still in the hospital and the agency sleuths were keeping a round-the-clock watch on them.

The sources said he would be questioned once the doctors declared him fit for it.

They said CBI had also begun its probe into the account books of the Madhavpura Mercantle Co-operative Bank and alleged that Ketan Parekh had caused a loss of Rs 8.43 billion to the bank in totality.

The CBI has also questioned B H Somaiah, suspended assistant general manager of Bank of India's BSE branch.

Somaiah has already been suspended by the bank along with deputy chief manager Suvarna for "procedural violations".

The CBI said it was "studying" the Reserve Bank of India report on the Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank, which has been hit by a Rs 12 billion scam and has enveloped the entire co-operative banking sector.

The agency is also looking into the "nexus" between Ketan and Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd.

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