Samata co-op bank scam accused held

NAGPUR: Forty-five-year-old Milind Chimurkar, former director of Samata Co-operative Bank, was a prize catch for the crime branch as he was arrested on Thursday night in a meticulously laid trap in Ahmedabad. The accused had reached Ahmedabad from Delhi recently to cheer his son Tejas participating in the ongoing junior national skating championing.
Chimurkar will now be cooling his heels in the crime branch lock-up till January 2.Founder chairman of Samata Co-operative Bank Dinkar Chimurkar, also father of arrested accused Milind Chimurkar, has been declared absconding. Names of the Chimurkars feature in the massive scam of Rs 145 crore where 22 directors, five bank officials and two borrowers have also been included as co-accused. "Accused Milind Chimurkar was involved in siphoning off huge amount of depositors money," said B K Upadhyay, additional commissioner of police (crime).
The sleuths arrested Chimurkar outside his room at Hotel Madhur in the night before he could revel in the stupendous performance of his promising skater son Tejas who grabbed second position in an event in the junior national. The former bank chairman was arrested for his alleged role in the massive 145 crore scam after the FIR was lodged at Sitabuldi police station in mid-November this year.
On Friday, the HC had cancelled Chimurkar's bail application. Earlier, he was granted anticipatory bail by a lower court, but this was quashed by the sessions court. Though director general of police has issued an order to transfer the case to state CID, the first significant impact was made by the crime branch sleuths who arrested Chimurkar. "He was returning to hotel after cancelling his reservation as his son was participating in more events on Saturday," said sub-inspector Arvind Saraf. "While our officer (Saraf) waited at the reception, I laid a trap near the room. He was too ashamed to be arrested before the entire sports fraternity, so he quietly came with us," said constable Dube.
Apart from the top bank officials, several beneficiary groups and borrowers are also under the scanner for their alleged role in abetting the scam for financial gains.
Crime branch chief B K Upadhyay, additional commissioner of police (crime), named chief executive officer of the bank P B Choudhary, recovery officer Keshav Kamble and loan sanctioning officer AK Brahme as some of the other key accused in the case.