Mumbai: The arrest of former Maharashtra Bank chairman Ravindra Marathe has cooked into a political hot potato with MNS chief Raj Thackeray dubbing it a product of the state government’s vindictive politics as Mr Marathe had refused to toe the government’s line on the crop loan issue. Mr Thackeray also called Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis a “liar” for claiming to be unaware of the police action.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar slammed the Pune police for arresting Mr Marathe and said that the action was unnecessary.

Mr Thackeray said, “Who will believe that the police arrested the chairman of a bank without informing the CM? It means Mr Fadnavis is lying. The action against officers of Maharashtra Bank must have been taken only after informing Mr Fadnavis.”

Mr Thackeray claimed that the action was vindictive in nature. “Something like the crop loan issue was the key reason for this action, I am told. Mr Marathe was an important person in the implementation of the government scheme. He refused to do everything that the government wanted. Hence, this action was taken.”

The MNS chief even said that there was a conspiracy behind Mr Marathe’s arrest. “They want to merge Maharashtra Bank into Bank of Baroda. You check it. I have been told this. So, these actions are being taken to shake the confidence of Bank of Maharashtra depositors,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, Mr Pawar said, “In the DSK issue, the Pune police has committed gross mistakes. Taking action against bank officers is completely wrong. The use of such power was not necessary in this case.”