Rohit Pawar discharged as PMLA court closes MSC Bank fraud-related case

Special judge Mahesh Jadhav discharged all the accused primarily because the sessions court had, in February, closed the predicate case, registered by the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing

MUMBAI: A special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases on Wednesday closed the case related to the alleged multi-crore fraud at Maharashtra State Co-operative (MSC) Bank and discharged all 17 accused, including NCP (SP) leaders Rohit Pawar, Prajakt Tanpure, his father Prasad Tanpure, former Maharashtra Congress chief Ranjit Deshmukh, and Shiv Sena leader Arjun Khotkar, all of whom were booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar with party MLA Rohit Pawar speaks during a press conference at his residence, in Pune, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (PTI Photo) (PTI07_02_2023_000165B) (PTI)

Special judge Mahesh Jadhav discharged all the accused primarily because the sessions court had, in February, closed the predicate case, registered by the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

The MSC Bank fraud, worth around ₹25,000 crore, involves allegations of illegal loans, fraudulent sales of sugar cooperatives to politicians or their kin, and financial mismanagement.

The Bombay High Court had, in August 2019, ordered the Mumbai police to register an FIR based on a complaint filed by activist Surinder Mohan Arora, who alleged that the bank had extended large loans to sugar cooperatives and other units that later became non-performing assets. The complaint had further claimed that the assets of the defaulting sugar mills were subsequently sold off to one of its directors’ kin at throwaway prices.

Accordingly, the MRA Marg police station registered an FIR naming around 72 directors of MSC Bank and entrusted the investigation to the EOW. A month later, the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and started a money laundering investigation based on the EOW’s case.

However, a year later, the EOW filed a C Summary report, which is essentially a closure report when an investigation reveals that a case is neither truly false nor entirely true. After the complainant objected to the closure report, the EOW reviewed certain aspects, but again filed a second C Summary report in March 2024. The sessions court accepted this report on February 27, 2026, closed the predicate offence, and prompted all the accused to file discharge applications.

The ED had opposed all the applications, contending that it had filed an intervention application in October 2020 opposing the EOW’s closure report, and had since approached the high court after the sessions court rejected its plea. The agency’s counsel argued that the situation could be reversed if the high court allows its plea.

On Wednesday, special judge Mahesh Jadhav allowed all the discharge applications, observing that no action under PMLA can be taken without a sustaining predicate or scheduled offence existing against the person concerned.

“The closure reports accepted by the competent court having jurisdiction in the predicate offence amounts to an acquittal,” the court said. “There being no predicate offence, i.e. scheduled offence, the impugned ECIR registered by the Directorate of Enforcement will not survive.”

Case against Rohit Pawar

Although the EOW did not find any wrong in the auctions conducted by MSC Bank, the ED had found illegalities in the sale of Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, a sugar mill in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, to Rohit Pawar’s Baramati Agro Ltd.

In its supplementary charge sheet filed in July 2025, the ED stated that MSC Bank decided to auction the sugar mill in January 2012, setting its reserve price at ₹51.06 crore. Three firms—Baramati Agro Ltd, Samrudhi Sugar Ltd, and Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation Pvt Ltd—submitted bids to purchase Kannad SSK. Although Samrudhi Sugar Ltd, the highest bidder, alleged that the sealed tender forms had been tampered with, these objections were not addressed, and its bid was eventually rejected on technical grounds, the charge sheet said.

The ED’s probe revealed that Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation was a shadow company or a proxy entity of Baramati Agro Ltd, which had transferred ₹5 crore to the former as EMD (Earnest Money Deposit), “clearly showing interlinked financial dealings”.

Case against Prajakt Tanpure

The ED had booked former MLA Prajakt Tanpure, his father Prasad Tanpure, and their family firm, Prasad Sugar and Allied Agro Products Ltd, in connection with the 2007 auction sale of the Ram Ganesh Gadkari SSK for a meagre sum of ₹12.95 crore, despite the reserve price being ₹26.32 crore.

The ED claimed that although the Tanpure family firm was the sole bidder, MSC Bank officials obtained the signature of a “second bidder” on the tender documents to give the impression that the bid process was competitive.

According to the agency, the “second bidder” allegedly never deposited the required EMD amount and was suspected to be “a proxy of Prasad Sugar”. It also claimed that a part of the funds used to purchase Kannad SSK had come from Ranjit Deshmukh, the former chairman of Ram Ganesh Gadkari SSK, another sugar mill.