Fresh Cheating Case Filed Against Ex-PMC Bank MD Joy Thomas

Mumbai: The Bhandup police have registered a fresh cheating case against Joy Thomas, the former managing director of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. Thomas is a key accused in the ₹4,635-crore fraud case involving the bank and real estate company Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL).

Along with Thomas, the police have also booked Kamaljit Kaur, the bank’s former chief manager and secretary to the MD, and real estate firm Shubham Commercial Enterprises Pvt Ltd, along with its directors Nimit Chheda and Ruchik Chheda.

The case involves PMC Bank’s purchase of properties worth ₹14.5 crore in 2018 from Shubham Commercial Enterprises without the mandatory disclosure to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to the police, the bank had purchased three shops and 30 offices in a Panvel project developed by the real estate firm to set up a new branch. However, the firm allegedly neither handed over possession of the properties nor refunded the money.

PMC Bank officials acted negligently and failed to follow the rules when purchasing the properties, resulting in a loss to the bank and a profit to the builder, the police said. According to the bank’s bye-laws, both the central registrar of co-operative societies and the RBI should have been informed about the property transaction.

The case was registered based on a complaint filed by Vijay Kumar, senior vice president of Unity Small Finance Bank, which took over PMC Bank in 2022 following an RBI-mandated merger after the 2019 fraud came to light.

“Unity Small Finance Bank has learnt that PMC, which was headquartered in Bhandup, had purchased three shops and 30 offices in a project of Shubham Commercial Enterprises Pvt Ltd. The properties were to be developed in Panvel for a new branch. The bank’s MD at the time was Joy Thomas,” said an officer from the Bhandup police station.

According to the complaint, PMC Bank and Shubham Commercial Enterprises had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2018 for the property purchase. The developer was supposed to hand over possession of the properties by June 2018. The bank had paid the developer ₹14.5 crore out of the total agreed amount of ₹15 crore.

However, when Unity Small Finance Bank officials visited the site in August 2024, they discovered that the builder had left the project midway. When they started demanding the money back, they allegedly didn’t get any response, and the builder did not reply to notices sent in 2025. According to the bank’s bye-laws, both the central registrar of co-operative societies and the RBI should have been informed about the property transaction.

“We have registered the offence against Shubham Commercial Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Nimit Chheda, Ruchik Chheda, then PMC Bank MD Joy Thomas and then chief manager, Kamaljit Kaur, under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,” said the police officer.

The case spells fresh trouble for Thomas, who was granted bail in October 2024 by a special court in the PMC Bank-HDIL fraud case. According to the FIR in that case, the multi-state cooperative bank allegedly sanctioned fraudulent loans to HDIL, resulting in a financial fraud worth ₹4,365 crore. According to the prosecution, Thomas sanctioned the loan despite being aware of the procedural irregularities involved in the matter. Despite being responsible for pointing out the alleged irregularities, the FIR stated that Thomas never pointed out the irregularities to the regulators.