Taking serious note of the incident the Buldhana district authorities have formed a team to nab the accused, state government officials said today.
Rajesh Hivase, bank manager with the Central Bank of India in Buldhana, along with a peon, Manoj Chavan, 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.
The incident happened on June 18 and the complaint was filed on Thursday, officials said.
As per the reports, the farmer who had applied for loan provided his wife’s contact number while application. The accused employee then started calling the farmer’s wife and started talking vulgar. He then asked her for sexual favours for clearance of the loan application.
Later, police said, Hivase sent peon Chavan 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.
Angry locales vandalised the bank and staged intense protests outside the bank.
A statement issued by the government said that Buldhana Collector Nirupama Dange would personally monitor the case.
"As soon as the incident came to light, the District Collector spoke to the Superintendent of Police and sought immediate arrest of the accused," the statement said.
Peon Manoj Chavan (37) was arrested from Daryapur village where he had gone to attend a marriage, Girish Bobade, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Buldhana said. Bobade added that Chavan had been brought to Malkapur police station for further investigation.
He added that a search was still continuing for Hivase and police teams had been sent to the accused's Wardha and Nagpur residences.
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.
The state government statement added that the district administration was preparing a report against the branch manager and a proposal to suspend him was being sent to the bank's management.
Earlier, senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan condemned the incident and called it a "shame" and a "blot" on a progressive state like Maharashtra.
Speaking on the issue, Chavan today 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.
(With PTI inputs)