E-Paper
State co-op dept asks RBI to liquidate Shivajirao Bhosale Co-operative Bank
Proposal will ensure return of minimum deposit of Rs 5 lakh to bank’s depositors.
PUNE The State Co-operative Department has submitted a proposal to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking liquidation of the Shivajirao Bhosale Co-operative Bank.
The proposal, if okayed by the apex bank, will ensure the return of the minimum deposit of Rs 5 lakh to bank’s depositors.
According to information from the co-op department received on Sunday, each depositor is likely to get a return of Rs 5 lakh, but those who have invested more than this will receive at least Rs 5 lakh.
As many as 71,000 investors have invested a fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh, while 8,000 investors invested more than Rs 5 lakh in the form of various deposits.
In January, the Pune Police registered a case against Maharashtra State Legislative Council (MLC) and bank vhairman Anil Bhosale , bank director Suryaji Jadhav, chief accountant Shailesh Bhosale and chief executive officer Tanaji Padwal. A case has also been registered Bhosale’s wife Reshma Bhosale, who is also an accused in the case.
Apart from these, charges of alleged forgery, misappropriation and cheating have been filed against 15 others.
The case was registered under sections 406, 408, 468, 471 and 34 of IPC and relevant sections of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID).
At the directions of the RBI, the complainant, identified as an independent chartered accountant Yogesh Lakade (29), conducted a financial audit in 2018-19 and found Rs 71 78 crore underreported in the “cash in hand” segment of the bank.
In October 2019, the state co-op department had dismissed the bank’s board of directors and appointed an administrator to look after the daily affairs of the bank.
The audit report revealed that Bhosale and other accused prepared forged and fraudulent entries, wherein the facts were fudged to manipulate the accounts of the bank.
Police investigations led to the seizure of three cars belonging to arrested MLC Bhosale. Eleven accounts belonging to the accused were found to have forged entries with the intention of cheating. The bank has 14 branches with 95,000 deposits. Loans worth Rs 12 crore have been recovered till date. The bank had deposits worth Rs 432 crore and the non-performing assets stand at Rs 294 crore.
