Probe ordered into loan by Latur bank to Riteish Deshmukh’s company

Minister Save’s directive to the additional chief secretary, cooperation department, mentions that Riteish’s elder brother Amit Deshmukh was a minister in the previous MVA government while his younger brother, Congress MLA Dhiraj Deshmukh was the chairman of LDCCB

Mumbai: Cooperation minister Atul Save has directed a probe into a controversial loan of ₹116 crore by the Latur District Central Cooperative Bank (LDCCB) to Desh Agro Private Limited (DAPL), a company headed by actor Riteish Deshmukh and his wife Genelia. The couple was allotted an MIDC plot in Latur in April 2021, and LDCCB gave them the loan in two instalments in October 2021 and July 2022. The funding by the bank is alleged to have been done without following the requisite norms.

Riteish Deshmukh and his wife Genelia D’Souza

Save’s directive to the additional chief secretary, cooperation department, mentions that Riteish’s elder brother Amit Deshmukh was a minister in the previous MVA government while his younger brother, Congress MLA Dhiraj Deshmukh was the chairman of LDCCB. “The allotment of the land and funding by the bank was because of his political connection. You are requested to probe the allotment and funding, and initiate necessary action,” reads the letter. However, the minister told HT his jurisdiction extended only to the funding.

“Land allotment is not related to our department,” he said. “The deputy district registrar will probe the funding, whether adequate security against the loan was ensured and there was any illegality involved. We will take a call on the action to be taken once the report is submitted.”

The directives to the department came after BJP district president Gurunath Mage and deputy district president Pradip More wrote to the minister two weeks ago, armed with information received under RTI . More said the bank gave ₹116 crore within five months of the application to a company with a share capital of just ₹7.5 crore. “We have now demanded the cancellation of the allotment and the dissolution of the bank’s board of directors,” Mage said on Tuesday.

The land was allotted at a concessional rate of ₹605 per square metre, adding up to an expense of ₹15.29 crore for the company which proposed to set up a solvent extraction plant. Riteish is the son of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was an elected representative for several terms from Latur in central Maharashtra.

Riteish did not respond to HT’s message. In a clarification last month, his company had stated that the allegations levelled by BJP leaders were “baseless and factually incorrect” and that the MIDC land allotted on lease as well as the loans by financial institutions were both as per rules. “Ritesh and Genelia are known to be law-abiding and socially responsible citizens,” the note said.