Police drag their feet in gilt scam: Sena MLC

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena has demanded a CBI probe into the multi-crore scam involving several cooperative banks in the state.
It has also sought the intervention of the banking ministry to unravel the the details of the scam.
These banks had collectively given the broking firm, Home Trade, Rs 500 crores for buying securities, which were never delivered to them.Sanjay Agarwal, CEO of Home Trade, has been arrested.
The Sena has alleged that the NCP, which is a major constituent of the Democratic Front government, is misuing its powers to stall the police inquiry into the scam in which thousands of investors stand to lose their money deposited with the concerned banks.
Sena MLC Kanhailal Gidwani, who briefed party chief Bal Thackeray on the scam, has been authorised by him to take up the matter with the Centre. It is learnt that Mr Thackeray has also asked minister of state for finance Anant Gite, who belongs to the Sena, to direct the RBI to intervene in the matter.
In a letter to Mr Gite, Mr Gidwani has alleged that the DF government was protecting Pawanraje Nimbalkar, absconding chairman of the scam-tained Osmanabad District Central Cooperative Bank (ODCCB) and cousin of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and state energy minister Padmasinh Patil.
"Mr Nimbalkar is wanted in the Rs 500 crore government securities scam and has been absconding for over two months now. The police deliberately chose not to arrest him and have only now moved the court to declare him a proclaimed offender," Mr Gidwani told TNN.
Neither Mr Nimbalkar nor Mr Patil were available for comment.
He said Mr Gite should immediately appoint administrators for the three district cooperative banks allegedly involved in the scam— the Osmanabad, Nagpur and Wardha cooperative banks.
The Sena wants Mr Nimbalkar, chairman of the ODCCB and Suresh Deshmukh, chairman of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB), the apex body of all cooperative banks in the state, to be summarily removed from their posts.
The Sena legislator said, it was surprising that Mr Deshmukh continued to be the MSCB chairman when the board of directors of his Wardha district cooperative bank had been dissolved.
"One has to be the chairman of a district bank in order to head the MSCB. How can Mr Deshmukh head the MSCB when he is no longer the chairman of the Wardha bank ?" he asked.
The Sena leader reiterated the demand to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
At present, the state CID is investigating the case.
In May, the CID arrested NCP leader and chairman of the Nagpur district cooperative bank Sunil Kedar immediately after the scam broke.
"Mr Kedar is currently in judicial custody. But the police have failed to arrest Mr Deshmukh and Mr Nimbalkar for obvious political reasons," Mr Gidwani alleged.
Official sources, however, told TNN that the Osmanabad police have already moved the court for getting a proclamation notice issued against Mr Nimbalkar.
The process issued under section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure will declare Mr Nimbalkar a ‘proclaimed offender'' and order him to surrender before a court within a certain period.
According to government auditors, the misappropriation in the Osmanabad district cooperative bank alone is to the tune of Rs 197 crores.
Out of this, around Rs 30 crore were diverted to Hometrade for the purchase of government securities. The remainder is considered by bankers as non recoverable bad debt.
The ODCCB also lent Rs 30 crore to the Terna Cooperative Sugar Factory of which Mr Nimbalkar is a director.
Government sources said, the bank was not in a position to recover this loan.