FIR against NCP leader Ajit Pawar, 69 others in Maharashtra co-op bank scam case

Source: indiatoday.in

conomic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police on Monday filed an FIR against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and 69 others in the multi-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case.

The FIR was filed on the direction of the Bombay High Court. The high court had given five-day time to the Mumbai Police to file an FIR against Ajit Pawar. The FIR against Ajit Pawar and others has been filed under Sections 420, 506 409 465, 467 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The other accused in the case include Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader Jayant Patil and officials from the superseded bank’s units in 34 districts in the state.

The development has happened just ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections.

On August 22, a bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and SK Shinde of the High Court said there was “credible evidence” against the accused in the case and directed the EOW to file an FIR within five days.

The accused were allegedly complicit in causing losses to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore to MSCB between 2007 and 2011.

An inspection by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), as well as a charge sheet filed by a quasi-judicial enquiry commission under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies (MCS) Act, blamed the decisions, actions and inactions” of Pawar and the other accused of the loss.

The NABARD audit report revealed a breach of several banking laws and RBI guidelines by the accused in the distribution of loans to sugar factories and spinning mills and subsequent default on repayment and recovery of such loans.

Local activist Surinder Arora filed a complaint with the EOW in 2015 and approached the high court, seeking that an FIR be registered.

In view of the deficiencies pointed out by NABARD, the RBI had in May 2011 directed to supersede the MSCB board of directors and appoint an administrator to look after its affairs.

The HC had last week held that prima facie, NABARD’s inspection report, the complaint, and the charge sheet under the MCS Act showed there existed “credible evidence” against the accused in the case.