Mumbai, Dec 18 (PTI) A special court in Mumbai issued summonses to former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Prajakt Tanpure and his father Prasad Tanpure after taking cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet filed against them in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) case.

The other accused in the case, including Congress leader Ranjeet Deshmukh, Shiv Sena leader Arjunrao Panditrao Khotkar, builder Jugal Kishor Tapadiya and industrialist Padmakar Muley, have also been summoned.

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All of them have been directed to appear before the court on January 12. The court said there is prima facie evidence to indicate the accused committed the offence of money laundering as defined under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Special Judge R N Rokade had, on Saturday, taken the cognizance of two supplementary chargesheets filed by the Enforcement Directorate. His order was made available on Monday.

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Tanpure was a minister of state for urban development, energy, tribal development, higher and technical education and disaster management in the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government. His father Prasad Tanpure is a former Member of Parliament.

The case pertains to an alleged scam in the Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana(SSK)- co-operative sugar factories- and Sahakari Soot Girnis.

The ED's action is based on an FIR dated August 26, 2019 registered by Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.

The FIR was lodged after an order of the Bombay High Court on August 22 that year over allegations that the cooperative sugar factories known as Sahkari Sakhar Karkhana (SSKs) were fraudulently sold by then officials and directors of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) at throwaway prices to related entities without following due procedure.

Investigations conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act found MSCB undertook auction of Ram Ganesh Gadkari SSK in 2007 at an undervalued price and without following due process.

The said SSK was sold to Prasad Sugar and Allied Agro Products Ltd, a firm of Prajakt Tanpure, for a mere Rs 12.95 crore against the reserve price of Rs 26.32 crore.

It is specifically asserted in the complaint (chargesheet ) that Pasad Sugar and Allied Agro Products managed to acquire the assets of Ram Ganesh Ghatkari Sakhari Sakhar Kharkhana, including 110 acres of land, plant machinery and building structure at a nominal price of Rs 12.95 crore despite the reserve price being fixed at Rs 26.32 crore, the court said.

Referring further to the chargesheet, the court noted these assets were acquired through incompetent bidding process.

The entire assets of Ram Ganesh Ghatkari Sakhari Sakhar Kharkhana, which may have been valued at more than Rs 26.32 crore in 2007 by the government approved valuer, were acquired illegally and are the proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the judge said.

"On perusal of the averments made in the complaint, I am of the considered view that all the accused named in the supplementary complaint directly and knowingly indulged in acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime in an illegal manner," the court said.

There is prima facie evidence to indicate the accused committed the offence of money laundering as defined under the Act, the court said.

"Having regard to the allegations made in the supplementary complaint, sufficient material to establish the role of each accused in the complaint as well as documents placed on record, I am of the considered view that process is required to be issued against all the accused named in the supplementary complaint," the court added.

(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)