Court denies pre-arrest bail to former PMC Bank MD Joy Thomas

Mumbai, Jan 20 (PTI) A court here has refused anticipatory bail to a former Managing Director of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) bank, Joy Thomas, in an alleged criminal breach of trust case, saying that his involvement was prima facie clear.

Additional Sessions Judge N G Shukla passed the order on January 16.

Thomas is an accused in multiple fraud cases allegedly committed during his tenure as MD of the bank.

He was arrested in 2019 in an alleged Rs 4,355 crore scam at the bank, and is currently out on bail.

The fresh case came to light after PMC Bank was taken over by Unity Small Finance (USF) Bank in 2022.

Based on the complaint of USF, an FIR was registered against him on November 7, 2025, under sections 316(5) (criminal breach of trust) and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The case pertains to a 2018 transaction for the purchase of office space for the bank at Panvel near Mumbai.

As per the prosecution, Thomas authorized the transfer of Rs 14.5 crore -- almost the entire consideration amount -- to a private construction firm, without obtaining approval of the Board of Directors or following the bank's bylaws.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the purchase was never registered. Further, despite the advance payment, the construction remained incomplete, and the bank never received possession of the office which was due by June 30, 2018, the prosecution said.

Thomas's lawyer advocate H S Kazi argued that he was not a signatory to the MOU as he had granted a power of attorney to the then chief manager.

The transaction was civil in nature and Thomas's long period of incarceration in previous cases (from 2019 to 2024) prevented him from taking steps to recover the funds, the lawyer argued.

Additional Public Prosecutor Chaitrali Panshikar and intervener USF Bank's counsel Ramesh Dube Patil strongly opposed the pre-arrest bail plea, arguing that as managing director, Thomas held complete control and made all primary decisions regarding the purchase.

He knowingly dealt with directors of a company who were already accused in other crimes, they argued.

The court noted that the office space was to be received by June 30, 2018, and Joy was MD of the bank till September 2019.

The sessions judge also pointed out that Thomas did not take any effective steps by issuing notice to the accused company for its failure to comply with the contract.

"This circumstance also shows involvement of the applicant in the crime," it added.

"Considering the nature of the transaction and role of the applicant being MD, his involvement is clear in the crime. Thus he is not entitled for anticipatory bail," the court ruled. PTI AVI KRK