Loan default case: CBI court grants pre-arrest bail to guarantor

According to the case registered in 2012, M/s Shree Parvati Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana had approached Punjab National Bank (PNB) and two other banks to seek a loan to set up an integrated sugar manufacturing (5000 TCD) and power generation (15 MW) plant at Moreshwar Nagar, Beed, and availed a loan of ₹60 crore from the consortium of the banks

Mumbai: A special CBI court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to a Pune businessman, Pandurang Solunke, who had acted as a guarantor for a ₹60 crore loan taken by a cooperative sugar factory in 2012 and the account turned a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2014 after the factory failed to repay the loan. The court said that there is no material to establish the role of Solunke, a Beed resident.

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According to the case registered in 2012, M/s Shree Parvati Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana had approached Punjab National Bank (PNB) and two other banks to seek a loan to set up an integrated sugar manufacturing (5000 TCD) and power generation (15 MW) plant at Moreshwar Nagar, Beed, and availed a loan of ₹60 crore from the consortium of the banks.

The proposed project got delayed and the factory came under financial stress and therefore could not repay the loan and the account was declared an NPA in 2014-15.

The CBI on March 27 this year registered the case on the basis of the complaint by PNB, which claimed that the factory allegedly misappropriated the loan amount and did not utilise it for the purpose for which it was taken.

The court noted that the central agency could not state what role the businessman had played. “As per the complaint of PNB to the CBI, the role of the applicant is described as guarantor to the loan account. Except for the fact that the applicant/accused has stood as guarantor to the loan, no niceties, specifications, details, or particulars or overt act done by the applicant for a commission of the offence are mentioned in the FIR,” said the court while granting him pre-arrest bail.

“Prima facie, therefore, the role of the applicant can be attributed to that he has stood as guarantor to the said loan,” the court said, adding, “Besides, Solunke was not called for investigation yet and there was no necessity to interrogate the accused in custody.”