The Uttar Pradesh government has suspended Secretary/General Manager Upendra Kumar and Deputy General Manager Shakil Ahmed of the District Cooperative Bank (DCB) in Rampur for making unauthorised payment of interests on the three accounts operated by Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan-controlled Jauhar University and Rampur Public School.

The government action comes following investigation into the matter on the complaint of the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Rampur, Akash Saxena.

Jauhar University and Rampur Public School operate three accounts in Jauhar University branch of DCB, Rampur. The bank treated the current accounts as savings bank accounts and paid interest of Rs 17.22 lakh to Jauhar University in July 2022  and Rs 2.18 lakh to Jauhar Trust. The DCB also paid an interest of Rs 3.67 lakh as interest to Rampur Public School treating its current account as savings bank accounts. All the three accounts were operated by SP’s former MP Azam Khan.

Sources in the Cooperative department said as per the Banking Regulation Act and regulations of the Reserve Bank of India, the said accounts could neither be categorised as SB account nor eligible for interest.

Official sources disclosed that the DCB Rampur also operates the accounts of Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Saraswati Vidya Mandir and district panchayat, but none of them were paid interest.

The state government has also set up a committee for detailed investigation into the matter. The committee comprises PK Agarwal, financial advisor, Cooperative department, RK Kulshestra, MD of UP Cooperative Bank Ltd, Avinash Chandra, Deputy General Manager of RBI regional office in Lucknow, Upma Saxena, Deputy General Manager of the National Bank  of Agriculture and Rural Development’s regional office in Lucknow.