State Cong chief8217;s kin held for theft, released on bail

NAGPUR, May 28: La Affaire Pench Synthetics took a curious twist when Ashish Deshmukh, son of State Congress president Ranjit Deshmukh, was ...

NAGPUR, May 28: La Affaire Pench Synthetics took a curious twist when Ashish Deshmukh, son of State Congress president Ranjit Deshmukh, was held along with two others after the police seized a considerable part of the 8220;stolen8221; machine parts from their factory premises at Buti Bori.

Abhijit Gupta, son of former Congress MLC Ramesh Gupta, and Jaswant Singh Bhantia were the two others, held along with Ashish by the Mouda police. The three were later released on bail by the Judicial Magistrate First Class JMFC of Ramtek, police said.

Nearly a week ago, the Mouda police had booked six directors of the Rahadi- based Pench Synthetics Industries for defrauding the state-owned Small Industries and Investment Corporation of Maharashtra SIICOM to the tune of Rs 22 lakh. Regional Manager of SIICOM JF Salve had lodged a complaint in this regard.

The six were identified by the police as M K Rao, MD, and SM Agarwal, Dr SS Harode, Raghunandan, JS Dharicha and S Paparao, all directors. Among other things, theywere charged with disposing off vital machine parts 8211; procured against the loan extended by SIICOM 8211; and sharing the spoils among themselves. A case of theft and cheating was registered. In the probe that ensued, the police reportedly seized half of the 8220;stolen8221; machine parts from the premises of a Buti Bori-based industrial unit, Nagpur Synthetics, owned by Ashish and the two others. Hence, the arrests.

The Pench Synthetics had procured a loan of Rs 1.22 crore from SIICOM to set up the industrial unit at Rahadi in 1993. Sources said, the unit did pay the initial installments towards repayment of the loan but failed to sustain the process. In December last year, the SIICOM issued a notice to the Pench Synthetics seeking reasons as to why the unit should not be taken over by the state undertaking. A legal tussle followed and SIICOM emerged victorious after the unit gave an undertaking before the court that it would repay the loan in installments of Rs 7 lakh each month.

This however was not to be thecase as the amount of outstanding loan and interest crossed Rs 2 crore mark. Apparently, prompting SIICOM to launch take-over procedure. It appointed a valuer for this. In the subsequent process of valuation, it was found that machine parts worth Rs 22 lakh were disposed off illegally by the management. This led to the police complaint by SIICOM.

As per the sources, the SIICOM and the rural police, were subjected to intense political pressures when the matter came to light. So much so, the SIICOM was made to alter its original complaint. Ashish also reportedly gave a statement to the police that Pench Synthetics owed Rs 18 lakh to his firm, Nagpur Synthetics, towards the loan extended by the latter. The machine parts were given to his firm by Pench Synthetics management against the loan, he is reported to have stated.