In a FIR lodged with the Kothrud police by T N Lakhani on behalf of the bank, Tanwani, along with Umesh Mokati, Sadanand L Nishad and Ashwinikumar Modkar have been charged with cheating by conducting a fraudulent lucky draw between February 5 and May 23.

The FIR states that the accused opened an account in the name of Balaji Enterprises and issued cheques worth Rs 5,000 and Rs 4,000 despite the account not having any deposits. It has also been alleged that the accused tried to destroy the cheques later on. Meanwhile they continued to accept money for the lucky draw tickets and promised the customers that results would be declared on May 1 and 23.

This comes a few days after Tanwani alleged that the bank directors had threatened him to resign. In fact, on May 26, Tanwani filed a complaint withthe Pimpri police station alleging that the directors had abducted him and forced him to sign two cheques at gunpoint.

Interestingly, Tanwani who was the manager of the Kothrud branch of the bank was transferred to its Dehu Road branch in April. On May 4 he had proceeded on a 140-day leave, alleging that the board directors of the bank had committed financial irregularities.

The Kothrud police are conducting further investigations and no arrests have been made so far.