The police have arrested assistant managers of the bank Atmaram Sakharam Patil and Damodar Shrishailam for colluding with R C Patil, whom the police is searching. Patil, who is director (industrial sector) has been charged with trying to wrongfully prove that Damodar Shrishailam is an official voter from the Bhiwandi Padmashali Cooperative Society inspite of the fact that he has been removed from his post.

The office-bearer of the Cooperative Society Devram Dikonda had made a complaint to the police after discovering that the letter heads and stamps of the society were used fraudulently. He told The Indian Express: ``Patil has cheated me of the opportunity to contest the elections by doing so. Now that the police have lodged an offence, a detailedinvestigation into Patil's affairs would be in order.'' Embarrassed Congress circles have been slow to react and refused to comment when contacted though a senior Congress leader from Thane city pointed out that Patil had made many enemies during his 10-year-stint as the bank's chairperson. ``His style was so autocratic that he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,'' he said.