The Aryavarth Express
Agency(Mumbai): The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has proposed the termination of an inquiry linked to a purported scam worth Rs 25,000 crore at the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, with Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar implicated among others.
Special public prosecutor Raja Thakre presented a ‘C summary’ report to R N Rokade, the special judge for cases involving MPs and MLAs. The hearing on this matter is scheduled for March 15. The court is tasked with deciding whether to endorse the report, thereby closing the case, or instructing the agency to persist with the investigation and prepare a chargesheet. A ‘C summary’ report is issued in criminal cases when they are believed to be filed based on a factual error, or the supposed offence is deemed civil rather than criminal.
On January 20, the prosecution submitted another report seeking case closure, asserting that no incriminating evidence emerged despite renewed investigations. The EOW’s initial request to close the case was filed in September 2020 and was approved by the court.
However, in October 2022, the EOW conveyed to the special court that it was undertaking additional investigations prompted by concerns raised by complainants (who contested the case closure) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Ajit Pawar became the Deputy CM of Maharashtra in July 2023 after dissociating from his uncle, Sharad Pawar, the founder of the Nationalist Congress Party, and joining the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition.
The FIR in the case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal breach of trust and cheating, the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, following a directive from the Bombay High Court in August 2019.
The controversy involves loans amounting to thousands of crores of rupees secured by sugar cooperatives, spinning mills, and other organizations from district and cooperative banks across the state. Ajit Pawar, a key figure in the Sharad Pawar-led NCP at the time, and over 70 individuals, who were directors of MSC Bank during the implicated period, were named in the FIR. According to the FIR, the state treasury incurred a loss of Rs 25,000 crore between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2017, due to malpractices within the bank.
Allegations by the EOW included violations of banking and Reserve Bank of India regulations through the issuance of loans to sugar mills at exceptionally low interest rates and the disposal of assets belonging to defaulting companies at significantly reduced prices.