State co-op federation fraud: Official arrested

The Bundgarden police on Monday arrested,Bhagwan Thombre,the deputy chief officer of Maharashtra State Sahakari Sangh (Maharashtra State Co-operative Federation) in connection with an alleged fraud of Rs 23.98 crore by transferring federation’s land to a builder for redevelopment. This is the first arrest in the case even as 34 persons,including the then president and directors,have obtained anticipatory bail till October 5.

In 2010- 2011,the Federation —the main organisation of all cooperative societies in the state — signed a redevelopment deal with M/s Bharuka Associates. The builder was to develop the 74,158 sq ft land of the Federation headquarters at Sadhu Vaswani Chowk near Pune railway station and hand over 5,000 sq ft to the Federation for use. The rest of the area was to be used by the builder as commercial property for the next 99 years.

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Special auditor Prakash Ghodke (52) appointed by the state government for the audit,lodged a complaint with Bund Ganrden police alleging fraud by 34 directors of the Federation and others last month.

Ghodke stated in his complaint that the land,estimated to be worth Rs 102-133.5 crore,was given to the developer for just Rs 35.11 crore even as the developer had submitted a tender for Rs 51 crore.

Thombre was produced in a magistrate court on Tuesday. “Investigation has revealed that accused persons received Rs 7.5 crore from M/s Bharuka Associates for handing over the land on BOT basis. Thombre was looking after the BOT proceedings. His custodial interrogation is therefore required to know his and others share out of Rs 7.5 crores,” police inspector (crime) S B Nikam told the court. The court remanded Thombre in police custody till October 4.