Cooperative Bank Case Closure Report Accepted, Ajit Pawar, Others Cleared

A court in Mumbai has accepted the closure report given by the police in a case linked to an alleged scam worth Rs 25,000 crore in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB).

With the closure report of the police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW), former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who had served as a director of one of the district banks, wife Sunetra Pawar, and other individuals have been cleared in the case.

Sunetra Pawar is the new Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

The EOW told the special court that it found no criminal offence in the alleged case. The investigators also said they found no irregularities in sanctioning loans and recoveries too.

The court, after accepting the closure report, dismissed the petition filed by activists seeking an investigation into the alleged scam.

The closure report's acceptance comes a month after Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash in Maharashtra's Baramati.

Mahesh Jadhav, special judge, rejected protest petitions filed by activist Anna Hazare and others challenging the closure report.

A detailed order of the court is awaited.

The alleged scam is linked to loans given to cooperative sugar factories, spinning mills and other entities by district and cooperative banks, allegedly without following norms. The MSCB is Maharashtra's top cooperative bank.

The investigation began in 2019 as directed by the Bombay High Court. Besides Pawar, who was then a director of one of the district banks, the first information report (FIR) named government officials, the then directors and officials of the MSCB, and others.

The EOW initially alleged the state suffered losses of Rs 25,000 crore between January 2007 and December 2017 due to irregularities in disbursal of loans. The case saw multiple twists since 2020.

During the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government (in which Ajit Pawar was the finance minister) the EOW filed a closure report stating that no criminal offence was made out.

After a change of government in 2022, it was reported that the probe agency sought to reopen the case but that did not happen. Eventually, the EOW once again filed the closure report.