Leading bankers suspect some foul play in the arrest of Bank of Maharashtra CEO Ravindra Marathe and have hinted at possible political overtones behind the move as it was not even a lead bank that lent funds to real estate developer DS Kulkarni “More and more bankers come under investigative net without any proof of malfeasance,” said the chief executive of a bank who did not want to be identified. “A person can be taken into custody if he is not cooperating. But when the senior official of a bank cooperated with investigative agencies, there was no need for the arrest. This shows that there is an element of foul plan which is going to affect the morale of bankers.”The Maharashtra Police’s Pune Economic Offences Wing on Wednesday arrested Marathe, executive director Rajendra Gupta and former CEO Sushil Muhnot and other bank officials who would be in police custody till June 27 on charges of colluding with real estate developer DS Kulkarni to divert money and cheat shareholders. “Marathe was arrested on his way back home from yoga class. He was not even allowed to go home but was taken into police custody for investigation, even before the crime is established,” said a second banker.Senior bankers pointed out that Bank of Maharashtra is being made a scapegoat was clear from the fact that it was not the only bank which has given loans to DSK Developers. Several other banks like State Bank of India and Union Bank of India too have given loans to the builder. In fact, the exposure of Bank of Maharashtra was Rs 94 crore which is fully secured according to a statement issued by the bank.“As a union we are for accountability of the top management, but here in this case investigative agencies have overstepped,” said Devidas Tuljapurkar, general secretary of the employee and officers’ federation of Bank of Maharashtra. The development comes as a challenge for the bank since it has also jolted confidence of several banks particularly because thousands of accounts amounting nearly Rs 9 lakh crore have turned non-performing loans raising concerns that investigative agencies would go after all these bankers even without any proof of wrongdoing.The fact that the bank has declared DS Kulkarni as wilful defaulter and possessing assets under the Sarfaesi Act show that there was no collusion between the bank management and the defaulter, said Bank of Maharashtra officials. “In fact, the property where the executive director Gupta, who was also arrested, belonged to DSK Group,’’ said a BOM banker. “It was attached by the bank for none payment of dues, which also indicates that the bank was serious about recovering every penny they lent to the defaulting builder.”The photo illustration accompanying the June 21, Page 1 story on Bank of Maharashtra was that of former CMD Sushil Muhnot, not his successor Ravindra Marathe. The error is regretted.