High Court grants bail to 2 directors of scam-ridden Poonam Urban Co-op Socy

Staff Reporter :

Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has granted conditional bail to two directors of Poonam Urban Credit Co-Operative Society, which was rocked by bogus loan case scam. These two directors include Priyadarshan Mandlekar and Subhash Shukla. The prosecution had charged the Board of Directors of defrauding the account holders by luring them with higher interest rates and colluding with one Prasad Agnihotri who had prepared bogus loan cases to siphon off the money.

The investigation agency claimed that Rs 1.94 crore was misappropriated using this modus operandi. Agnihotri, in collusion with the Board of Directors, used to prepare loan cases in the names of either fictitious persons or gullible persons whose documents of identification etc were with him and the loan cases used to be sanctioned by the Board of Directors without any verification. The prosecution claimed that the alleged borrowers were not aware of the loan cases and the amount of loan was received by Prasad Agnihotri.

Sakkardara Police had registered case for offences punishable under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 3 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 1999, against the directors and Agnihotri. Mandlekar, who was behind bars since February 24, moved the High Court seeking bail on grounds of parity and due to his worsening health condition for which bypass surgery was required. The applicant claimed that he was advised immediate Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG) and placed on record communication dated March 16 addressed by the Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Cardiac Thoracic & Vascular Surgery, Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur to the Officer on Special Duty of the Government Super-Speciality Hospital. Besides, the applicant claimed that on grounds of parity he should be released since another co-accused Chandrakant Bihare facing identical allegation was released on bail prior to him.

Justice Rohit Deo, while allowing the application released applicant-Mandlekar on bail. The High Court, while granting conditional bail to Priyadarshan Mandlekar on grounds of parity and medical condition, directed him to fully co-operate with the Economic Offences Wing. In case of Subhash Shukla, who was behind bars since September 18, 2019, the applicant also relied on bail granted to Chandrakant Bihare and claimed that in entire loan scam, no specific role was attributed to him. The only incriminating material against the applicant was that he and Bihare were witnesses to the sale-deed dated December 14, 2017 by which the society purchased 0.80 hectare land at Rui-Panjari on Wardha Road. Arun Phaltankar, President of the society, represented the society in the said transaction. The prosecution claimed that the society was not a housing society and the purchase of the said land was totally illegal. Shukla was further accused of executing several documents styled as possession letters in June and July 2018 in favour of the account holders of the society.

He claimed that this was done to minimise the loss caused to the account holders. The High Court, while granting conditional bail to Shukla also, noted that as of today the investigating agency had not received a single complaint from the persons or account holders placed in possession of the plots carved out from the land purchased by the society at Rui-Panjari. Adv Uday Dable (Mandlekar), Adv Deven Chauhan (Shukla) appeared for the applicants. APP Neeraj Jawde represented the prosecution.