Banker, peon suspended for seeking sexual favour against loan sanction

The manager and a peon of the India">Central Bank of India's Datala branch here have been suspended for demanding sexual favours from the wife of a farmer, who applied for a crop loan on Saturday.

Chandrapur District collector Nirupama Dange told ANI that the matter has been taken seriously at the administrative level, and would be raised in a fast track court shortly.

The Maharashtra Police filed a case against Rajesh Hivase, the manager of the Datala branch, and a peon, Manoj Chavan, under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
While the peon was arrested from Amravati, a search operation is underway for the absconding accused manager.

According to the police, when the crop loan proposal was submitted, the bank manager had asked the farmer for a contact number so as to clear doubts, if any, during scrutiny. The farmer gave his wife's contact number.

The manager, who made a call to the farmer's wife, however, spoke in an obscene and lewd manner and demanded sexual favours in return for clearing the loan request.

In this regard, the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana staged a protest in front of the bank's Datala branch on Saturday.

While the bank was closed, the protestors broke the bank's board and painted its wall black. (ANI)