Supreme Court notice to RBI in Subramanian Swamy plea on bank scams

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation and Reserve Bank of India on a plea seeking investigations into alleged role of RBI officials in various banking and financial scandals. The plea has been filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and advocate Satya Sabharwal. A division bench comprising justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna said it would examine the matter.

The petitioners contended the number and value of banking frauds detected by RBI and other agencies during the last couple of years showed that despite wide powers, RBI 'failed to protect the interests' of stakeholders including depositors, investors and shareholders. The plea reads "the regulator is being supinely indifferent to a series of bank frauds with questions now being raised about it".

The petitioners sought probe into various scams including PNB involving Nirav Modi, loan default by Kingfisher Airlines' erstwhile owner Vijay Mallya, Yes Bank scam involving Rana Kapoor and others, and Lakshmi Vilas Bank scam, among others.