India News | Court Needs to Reject Closure Report First Before Directing Further Probe, Says Protest Petitioner in MSCB Case

Mumbai, Nov 18 (PTI) Former MLA Manik Jadhav, one of the protest petitioners in the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) case, on Friday told a special court it needed to first reject the closure report filed earlier by the police before directing further investigation.

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Jadhav's move came almost a month after Mumbai police's Economic Offence Wing (EOW) informed the special court here it had begun probing further the alleged Rs 25000 crore MSCB scam, involving Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and others.

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The EOW had filed a closure report in the case in September 2020, while the Enforcement Directorate, investigating a related case, had opposed it. Sunil Arora, the original complainant in the case, Jadhav, social activist Anna Hazare and others had also opposed the closure report and filed protest petitions.

However, the court, at the time, had rejected these protest petitions and accepted the police's closure report.

Jadhav, in his application filed through Talekar and Associates, said the closure report needs to be first rejected before directing further investigation.

The court should take cognizance on the basis of the material placed on record by the investigating officer, the protest petitioners and the ED, it added.

Meanwhile, Sunil Arora on Friday withdrew his protest petition.

Special Judge R N Rokade has posted the matter for hearing on December 3.

The EOW had filed a first information report (FIR) in the case under Indian Penal Code sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) as well as under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI Act).

The case pertains to irregularities in loans of several thousand crore rupees obtained by sugar cooperatives, spinning mills and other entities from district and cooperative banks.

The FIR named former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and over 70 others, who were directors of the MSC Bank during the relevant period, as accused.

The FIR, which was registered following a High Court order in August 2019, held the state exchequer suffered losses of Rs 25,000 crore between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017 due to irregularities in the bank.

It contended 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.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)