Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank case: Court accepts closure report, gives clean chit to Ajit, Sunetra and Rohit Pawar

MUMBAI: A court for MPs/MLAs cases Friday accepted the two closure reports submitted by Mumbai police’s EOW in the Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank scam case involving prominent netas who headed the bank and its subsidiaries.

EOW had given a clean chit in the case to the late Ajit Pawar and deputy CM Sunetra Pawar, with their nephew Rohit,

Judge Mahesh K Jadhav also rejected ED’s plea to intervene and oppose the closure report. He pointed out a similar plea filed by ED against EOW’s first closure report was rejected earlier and an appeal against it is pending before Bombay HC.

The judge rejected protest petitions of 50 individuals, including Anna Hazare, who opposed the closure report. The court’s orders are expected to be made available next week.

In its plea to intervene, EDhad said it was an affected party as its laundering case was based on EOW’s FIR. ED further said that during its probe, it had taken action against those involved and attached their properties, including a mill linked to Ajit and Sunetra Pawar and Rohit Pawar.

SC had in 2022 ruled that when there is no predicate or scheduled offence, a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, cannot continue. A predicate or schedule offence is foundational criminal case required to sustain a money laundering prosecution. In this instance, EOW’s case is the scheduled offence.

Submitting that ED had no right to file an intervention plea despite an earlier one being rejected by court, the EOW said even after further investigations were conducted in the case, it was found no cognisable offence had been committed. Hence, the closure report was submitted.