Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam: Anna Hazare files protest petition

Activist Anna Hazare has filed a protest petition in the sessions court against the closure report filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police in the multi crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam. In the case, among the accused, are several politicians across parties, including Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Hazare, in his protest petition, said that, in 2016, he had approached the Bombay High Court through a PIL in the matter. In February, 2017, he had filed a complaint at Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Marg police station, but the police had not registered an FIR on it. The activist, calling himself the original complainant in the matter, said the entire investigation of the EOW, wherein it has filed a closure report in the case stating that it has not found any offences against the accused persons, is an eyewash and malafide and must be rejected.

The NABARD report had said that balance sheets had been fudged to show a profit of ₹2 crore when the bank was facing losses of Rs 798 crore. The board had 76 directors, of whom 44 were elected representatives — 25 from the Nationalist Congress Party, 14 from the Congress, 2 each from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Peasants and Workers Party of India and one from the Shiv Sena.