In the alleged ₹25,000 crore scam related to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB), a local court has accepted the police’s closure report. With this, former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and others have been given a clean chit in the case.
What was the case about?
This case was about a big scam of around ₹25,000 crore in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB). The bank gave loans to sugar factories. But many of these factories could not repay the loans (they failed to return the money). After that, the factories were sold through auctions.
The main allegation was that these factories were not sold fairly. Instead, they were sold in a way that helped relatives and close associates of bank officials and politicians, possibly at lower prices, giving them an unfair advantage.
A special court accepted the police’s closure report, which simply means the court agreed with the police that there was no strong evidence of any crime. As a result, Ajit Pawar and others accused in the case are no longer considered guilty and have been cleared of all charges. Ajit Pawar (former Deputy Chief Minister), Sunetra Pawar, Rohit Pawar, and Rohit Pawar’s company Baramati Agro all got relief in this case.
What did the court said?
The court said that the bank mostly followed proper legal rules while giving loans and later selling the factories. It also noted that in some cases, the bank was able to recover its money, and around ₹850 crore has already been recovered. The court further explained that some of the decisions taken by the bank were influenced by government support schemes, like the “Mitra Package,” which was introduced to help the struggling sugar industry. But these were supported by the government, so they were not illegal. In addition, in some cases, the bank actually earned extra money from the auctions, which means the sales were beneficial rather than a loss.
Some people, including social activist Anna Hazare and others, did not agree with closing the case and raised objections. However, the court did not accept their arguments and decided to reject all the objections, allowing the case to be closed.
The court said: “There may have been mistakes, but no crime was committed.”
