Navi Mumbai: The Rs 512.5 crore scam of Panvel-based Karnala Nagri Sahkari has been transferred from the Economic Office Wing (EOW) of the Navi Mumbai police to the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Pune. The Director-General of Police (DGP) of the state issued an order on Friday, transferring the further investigation of the case to the CID, said police.
According to a senior official of Navi Mumbai police, following the order from the DGP, further investigations will be carried out by the CID.
The EoW of Navi Mumbai police had registered a case of cheating and forgery against 76 persons, including 12 bank office-bearers and the bank’s chairman former MLA Vivek Patil in February this year.
The report of the special auditor of the cooperation department of Raigad named the former MLA and founder-chairman Patil as the key accused in the Rs 512,54,53,268 scam of Karnala Nagri Sahkari Bank. The other accused in the scam included 12 members of the bank’s management and 64 borrowers. They allegedly misappropriated the huge amount from the cooperative bank funds on the pretext of loans.
The report submitted to the RBI by the Raigad cooperative department revealed that management of the bank including vice-chairman, CEO and board of directors overlooked the bank’s rules and regulations and siphoned off bank deposits to accounts of trusts owned by their own people.
According to police, on the basis of fake documents, without property mortgage, loans were disbursed, which were never recovered. In addition, loans were also given to trusts which were owned by Patil.
The RBI capped the limit of withdrawal to Rs 5000 for existing account holders and also directed police to register a case. The Panvel City police registered a case in February 2020 which was later transferred to the EOW. FIR was also registered against some of the sitting corporators of PWP. They were booked under section 409, 417, 420, 463, 465, 467, 468, 471, 472, 477, 120 B and 34 of IPC and 147 of Cooperative Society Act including 3 and 4 of Protection of Interest of Depositors Act. The bank has 17 branches in Navi Mumbai, Pune, and Ratnagiri and over 40,000 depositors.
