Mumbai, Mar 15 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday sought the court’s permission to intervene in the hearing of Mumbai police’s plea to close a case related to an alleged Rs 25,000 crore scam at the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank in which state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is among the accused.
The ED, through its officer, filed the application for intervention before RN Rokade, special judge for cases against MPs and MLAs.
The court has asked police to file its response and adjourned the matter to April 20.
Earlier this month, the police’s Economic Offences Wing(EOW) had filed a ‘C summary’ report in the case. A ‘C summary’ report is issued by police when a criminal case is filed due to a mistake of facts, or the offence is of civil nature.
The prosecution, on January 20, filed a second closure report in the case saying nothing incriminating was found even after fresh investigation.
The EOW filed its first closure report in September 2020 and the court had accepted it.
In October 2022, however, the EOW informed the special court it was conducting further investigations based on points raised by the complainants (who had filed a petition opposing closure) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The EOW filed the First Information Report (FIR) in the case under Indian Penal Code sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating), the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act following a Bombay High Court order in August 2019.
The case pertained to loans of several thousand crore rupees that were obtained by sugar cooperatives, spinning mills and other entities from district and cooperative banks in Maharashtra.
The FIR named Ajit Pawar, then an opposition leader belonging to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, and more than 70 others, who were directors of the MSC Bank during the relevant period, as accused.
The FIR claimed the state exchequer suffered a loss of Rs 25,000 crore between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017 due to irregularities at the bank. It said banking and Reserve Bank of India regulations were violated while disbursing loans to sugar mills at very low rates and selling off assets of defaulter businesses at throw-away prices.
On July 2, 2023, Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde government and was made deputy chief minister.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government, of which Ajit Pawar was a part, fell in June 2022. PTI AVI BNM
About the Author
