MUMBAI, May 22: The city civil and sessions court on Thursday reserved orders on anticipatory bail plea of Abhyudaya Bank chairman and independent MLA Sitaram Ghandat and seven others, allegedly involved in the Rs 4.68 crore bank scam, till May 24.

Sessions judge SA Basu will also pass on May 24, orders on an application moved by prosecution seeking presence of the accused during proceedings under provisions of the amendment to Section 438 of CrPC.

Ghandat and other directors Bhiva Shivadikar, Achyot Knadpile, Stanley Saldana, Mhatarba Kane, Yashvant Shinde, Jessie D'silva and Ratnamala Gorde had applied for anticipatory bail. The matter came up for hearing on Wednesday but as the hearing was not complete the orders were reserved till Thursday. The accused, however, refrained from appearing in the court though sources said that notices were issued to them to appear personally.

Managing director Madhukar Chavan and five other directors were, on Wednesday, remanded to police custody till May 26 along with three builders.

Mahendra Doshi, another accused, was released on temporary bail till May 25 to attend to his son's marriage, on a surety of Rs 25,000.

He will have to surrender on that date. While vehemently opposing the anticipatory bail of Ghandat who is still at large, public prosecutor DG Paranjpe contended that the scam was of a huge magnitude affecting the common man. It could not be taken lightly as the persons involved were influential.

Paranjpe said that the accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy to defraud the bank. He said the prosecution had sufficient documentary evidence to pin the accused. He demanded their custodial interrogation to confront them with the seized documents. Adhik Shirodkar, counsel for Ghandat and others, said that the prosecution was taking the courts for a ride by stating that the petitioners were not available for interrogation.

"On the contrary, Ghandat and others were never called for interrogation," he contended.

The economic offences wing of Mumbai had registered a criminal case against Ghandat, the six bank directors and four builders for misappropriation of bank funds. According to the police, the accused allegedly committed fraud during the course of buying property for the bank at Andheri, Kandivli and Worli. There was allegedly a vast difference between the area claimed to have bought and that actually purchased.

Police investigations showed that the bank had agreed to but 2,735 sq ft at Andheri, 2,800 sq ft at Kandivli and 2,708 sq ft of land at Worli. However, sources say, the approved plan showed that the size of the land purchased was much less.

The approved plan showed the size of the lands at Andheri as 2,260 sq ft and that at Worli as 2,264 sq ft.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.