Banker harassing farmer's wife for sex shocking: Chavan

Senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Saturday condemned the incident in which a branch manager of a bank reportedly demanded sexual favours from a farmer's wife in order to clear a crop loan.

Chavan called it a "shame" and a "blot" on a progressive state like Maharashtra.

Rajesh Hivase, bank manager with the Central Bank of India in Buldhana, was booked on Thursday after a woman, who had applied for a crop loan with the bank at Datala village in Malakapur tehsil, filed a complaint.

According to the police, Hivase had taken the contact details of the woman, when she had visited the bank along with her husband, and then called her later that day demanding sexual favours in return for processing the loan application.

Later, police said, Hivase sent a peon to the woman's house to get her to agree to his demands.

The woman recorded the banker's conversation which she later submitted to the police while lodging a complaint against Hivase on Thursday, police said.

Speaking on the issue, Chavan said, "Farmers are not getting loan waiver or crop insurance and cannot even avail crop loans. The incident of a branch manager seeking sexual favours from a farmer's wife in lieu of processing a loan is shocking and condemnable."

The Congress' state unit chief also demanded that the government try the case in a fast track court and punish the guilty as quickly as possible.

A case has been registered against the banker and the peon under relevant sections of the IPC and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and further probe was underway, police said.