Mumbai: Special Court Discharges Rohit Pawar, Others In MSC Bank Fraud Case; ED Money Laundering Probe Closed

Mumbai, April 22: The special court on Wednesday discharged NCP leaders, including Sharad Pawar’s grand nephew Rohit Pawar, and other leaders who were booked in connection with the money laundering case linked to the alleged Maharashtra State Co-operative (MSC) Bank Ltd fraud case.

Court closes money laundering case

The court, while discharging all the accused, has now closed the money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This comes a month after the special court accepted the closure report filed by the EOW and closed the predicate offence.

ED probe based on EOW case

The ED had taken up a money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in MSC Bank, based on the case registered by the Economic Offences Wing on the directions of the Bombay High Court.

During its probe, the ED filed three prosecution complaints for money laundering, wherein Sharad Pawar’s grand nephew Rohit Pawar, NCP leaders Prajakt Tanpure and Subhash Deshmukh, and other persons and entities were named as accused.

EOW probe into bank irregularities

In 2019, the EOW had taken up a probe into allegations of irregularities in the sanction of loans and auction of sugar factories which could not repay the loan during the period from 2007 to 2017, as per the directions of the Bombay High Court.

The agency had named all the board of directors of the bank as accused in the case without mentioning any specific name. However, Pawar was one of the directors at the relevant time.

Closure reports and reinvestigation

The agency, after the probe, submitted its first closure report in September 2020, claiming that the team probing the allegations did not find any evidence of criminality in the case.

Later, based on objections raised by the original complainant Surinder Arora and activists, including Kisan Hazare, known as Anna Hazare, the EOW again took up the case for further investigation.

However, even after further investigation, the agency concluded that there was no cognisable offence made out. The special court, in March, accepted the closure report.

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Accused seek discharge

After the closure reports were accepted, Pawar, his close associate and businessman Rajendra Ingwale, along with Tanpure, Deshmukh, and the connected firms, approached the court for discharge.

It was contended that since the case registered by the EOW, which was the predicate offence, is closed, the money laundering case cannot survive. The court on Wednesday accepted the contentions and closed the case.

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