Mumbai, In a development related to the alleged Rs 25,000-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam, the Mumbai Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are at loggerheads over the closure report submitted before a court here.
The Economic Offenses Branch (EOW) of the city police on Thursday opposed the central agency's plea not to close the case, citing that the apex cooperative bank did not suffer any unfair loss due to the alleged fraud.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was named as accused in the original case registered by the EOW of the city police.
While the police attempted to close the case after finding no significant losses to the bank, the ED intervened, expressing concern that accepting the closure report would affect its ongoing money laundering investigation related to the scam.
The ED has already filed prosecution complaints and additional chargesheets in the case, emphasizing the interconnected nature of the investigations.
The EOW submitted a writ petition to the court rejecting the ED's intervention, pointing out that a special court had earlier rejected a similar plea for cases involving MPs and MLAs.
The chronology of events includes the police submitting a closure report in September 2020, which was initially accepted by the court.
However, an additional investigation was launched in October 2022 based on the protest petitions and the involvement of ED.
The EOW decided to close the case again in March this year, stating that the bank did not suffer unfair losses due to the alleged fraud.
The FIR, which followed a High Court order in August 2019, alleged that loans worth several billion rupees obtained by sugar cooperatives, spinning mills and other entities from district and cooperative banks were siphoned off and not repaid.
The FIR, filed under various sections including criminal breach of trust and cheating, named NCP leader Ajit Pawar and over 70 others, who served as directors of MSC Bank during the relevant period, as accused.
The allegations outlined a loss of Rs 25,000 crore to the Maharashtra government between 2007 and 2017, pointing to violations of banking regulations and RBI guidelines in loan disbursements to sugar mills and undervalued sale of assets of companies in Blackberry.
A former judge, appointed authorized officer by the commissioner of cooperatives, concluded that "there was no unfair loss to the bank due to the loans given to the factories (sugar mills)" and "the bank was recovering the amount from the factories by legal means" , says the closing report.
The Economic Offenses Branch (EOW) of the city police on Thursday opposed the central agency's plea not to close the case, citing that the apex cooperative bank did not suffer any unfair loss due to the alleged fraud.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was named as accused in the original case registered by the EOW of the city police.
While the police attempted to close the case after finding no significant losses to the bank, the ED intervened, expressing concern that accepting the closure report would affect its ongoing money laundering investigation related to the scam.
The ED has already filed prosecution complaints and additional chargesheets in the case, emphasizing the interconnected nature of the investigations.
The EOW submitted a writ petition to the court rejecting the ED's intervention, pointing out that a special court had earlier rejected a similar plea for cases involving MPs and MLAs.
The chronology of events includes the police submitting a closure report in September 2020, which was initially accepted by the court.
However, an additional investigation was launched in October 2022 based on the protest petitions and the involvement of ED.
The EOW decided to close the case again in March this year, stating that the bank did not suffer unfair losses due to the alleged fraud.
The FIR, which followed a High Court order in August 2019, alleged that loans worth several billion rupees obtained by sugar cooperatives, spinning mills and other entities from district and cooperative banks were siphoned off and not repaid.
The FIR, filed under various sections including criminal breach of trust and cheating, named NCP leader Ajit Pawar and over 70 others, who served as directors of MSC Bank during the relevant period, as accused.
The allegations outlined a loss of Rs 25,000 crore to the Maharashtra government between 2007 and 2017, pointing to violations of banking regulations and RBI guidelines in loan disbursements to sugar mills and undervalued sale of assets of companies in Blackberry.
A former judge, appointed authorized officer by the commissioner of cooperatives, concluded that "there was no unfair loss to the bank due to the loans given to the factories (sugar mills)" and "the bank was recovering the amount from the factories by legal means" , says the closing report.
