‘Clear case made out against Pravin Darekar’: Mumbai police opposes pre-arrest bail plea

The reply states that even after being elected as a Member of Legislative Council (MLC), Darekar continued to hold membership of labour society, posing as a labourer.

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police has opposed the anticipatory bail application (ABA) filed by BJP leader and leader of opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council Pravin Darekar.

Additional Sessions Judge Rahul Rokade has posted Darekar’s plea for further hearing on Wednesday. (HT FILE)

“Looking at the prima-facie evidence, a clear case is made out against Darekar the police argued,” said the reply filed by the Mumbai Police opposing Darekar’s pre-arrest bail plea. It stated that a total of 15 criminal cases are registered against him and this itself disqualifies him from any relief.

The reply states that even after being elected as a Member of Legislative Council (MLC), Darekar continued to hold membership of labour society, posing as a labourer. He got elected as the chairman of the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank from 2017 to 2021 from the labour quota, cheating the government and the public.

“While filing the affidavit in 2016 for MLC elections, Darekar had mentioned that he and his family own property worth ₹2.13 crore, of which property to the tune of ₹91 lakh belonged to him, and that as a member of the legislative assembly, he got ₹2.5 lakh per month. Thus, the BJP leader is not a labourer,” police said.

“In his affidavit filed in 2016, he has also mentioned his source of income from a private business and nowhere mentioned that Darekar was a labourer. However, in 2017 he was appointed as the chairman of the bank and he filled the labour quota form to get elected. Thus, he has cheated the public and state,” it added.

Additional Sessions Judge Rahul Rokade has posted Darekar’s plea for further hearing on Wednesday.

MRA Marg police station had on March 14 registered a First Information Report (FIR), accusing the BJP leader of using bogus membership of a labour society to get elected as a director of Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank — one of the biggest cooperative banks in the state. He is also accused of cheating the state government and causing losses to the bank due to unrecovered loans.

Darekar, who was chairman of the cooperative bank for 10 years -- between 2011 and 2021, has been booked under sections 200 (false declaration), 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery), 120-b (criminal conspiracy), and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.