HC wants FIR in co-op bank scam,trouble for Ajit Pawar

In an observation that is expected to spell trouble for Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,the Bombay High Court said that the alleged Rs 777-crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Ltd

In an observation that is expected to spell trouble for Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,the Bombay High Court said on Wednesday that the alleged Rs 777-crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Ltd (MSCBL) scam is a case that requires an offence to be registered. Pawar,as mentioned in the petition,controlled the banks board of directors over the last 10 years.

It is a fit case where FIR should be registered, Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode observed.

Shankara Bhonsale from Koregaon in Satara district had moved the High Court against the state government,the Economic Offences Wing (EOW),and the MSCBL demanding the registration of a criminal offence in a case of arbitrary disbursement of loans causing grave losses to the state exchequer. Pawar and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Manikrao Patil and his wife Prabhavati are among the other respondents in the case that also includes chairmen and directors of various sugar co-operatives.

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Bhonsales lawyer Rajendra Desai told the court that the fraud committed by those controlling the bank is exactly like the 2G scam. There are MPs and MLAs involved. A case has been made out against five karkhanas (sugar co-operatives) but many more are involved, Desai said.

He told the court that loans were advanced by the bank to members of the banks board of directors and members of the loan committee for their own sugar factories and spinning mills.