Karamsad co-op bank scam: 6 more arrested

Following the orders of the Gujarat High Court in the Rs 70-crore Karamsad Cooperative Bank scam case,the Criminal Investigation Department (Economic Offences) officials on Thursday arrested six people. Among the arrested were Praful Patel, managing director of Nadiad-based V B Patel Petrol Company,his wife and son.

According to CID Deputy Superintendent of Police B J Jadeja,the accused had borrowed Rs 1.5 crore from the Karamsad Cooperative Bank during 2002-03. Their failure to pay back the money had led to the collapse of the bank. The officials are yet to ascertain whether the documents used by the accused to get the loan were forged. However,the accused belong to the list of 33 defaulters who took loans and never paid back leading to its liquidation by the Reserve Bank of India.

“The accused run two petrol pumps. The other three arrested run various kinds of businesses in Anand and Nadiad districts,” said Jadeja.

According to Inspector KB Solanki,who made the arrests from Anand and Nadiad,the accused will be produced before a court on Friday. The other three arrested include businessmen Prakash Patel from Nadiad,Chirag Patel from Anand and Bhailal Patel from Boriavi.

On March 29,the court had directed Jadeja and his team to arrest all 33 borrowers who had not paid back to the bank,including those who used fake documents to borrow the money. So far,15 people have been arrested in this connection,including former state Cabinet Minister Dilip Patel and BJP MP from Anand Natubhai Patel.