FIR filed against Former MD&CEO of Bank for Bribery in Loan Sanction

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, has provisionally attached two immovable properties valued at ₹1.1 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. These properties, located at Adibatla Village in Ranga Reddy district, belong to Rohit Asawa, son of Umesh Chand Asawa, who was the then MD & CEO of AP Mahesh Cooperative Urban Bank.

Two FIRs were filed at Banjara Hills Police Station against top officials of the bank. FIR was filed against Ramesh Kumar Bung (then Chairman), Umesh Chand Asawa (then MD & CEO), Puroshatamdas Mandhana (then Senior Vice-Chairman), and others. They were accused of misusing their positions to approve loans for ineligible borrowers by accepting fake or illegal collateral, including non-existent properties. In return, they allegedly collected commissions from borrowers. It is suspected that these commissions were used to buy properties in the names of the accused and their family members.

The ED investigation revealed that during his tenure as MD, Umesh Chand Asawa sanctioned loans to M/s Biomax Fuels Ltd. and its group companies by accepting third-party properties that were already under litigation as collateral. For these illegal approvals, he took a commission of 2%–4% of the total loan amount. Investigators found that he took around ₹1.1 crore in cash from the MD of Biomax Fuels Ltd. as kickbacks. This money was categorized as “Proceeds of Crime.”

This cash was used to buy two properties in his son’s name. The sale deeds falsely showed the purchase value as around ₹26.7 lakh, while the actual market value was over ₹1.5 crore. To hide the money trail, part of the payment was made through cash and the rest was routed via regular banking channels, mixing illegal funds with legitimate ones. The ED has now attached these properties, and further investigation into the case is ongoing.

More details will be released soon.