Vivekanand Shankar Patil, a four-time member of the legislative assembly, who has been in jail for the past two years in connection with ₹512 crores Karnala Nagari Sahakari Bank (KNSB) cheating and forgery case, announced his retirement from active politics. He also resigned from all the posts of the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP).
Patil who is currently lodged in Taloja jail shared the decision through a letter. He cited his deteriorating health for this decision.
Vivek Patil's political career
In the letter, Patil shared his political career. He said that he was an active member of PWP since 1979 and he represented the Zilla Parishad. He also worked as the Chairman of Panvel Panchayat Samiti for 10 years. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly four times in 1995, 1999, 2004, and 2009. He expressed his heartfelt thanks to all those workers, and supporters.
However, he is again suffering from a life-threatening disease from which he had recovered around 4 years ago. He stated in the letter, “I will no longer be able to work due to physical illness. Also, I am resigning from the PWP due to my ill health. So, I am retiring from active politics.”
During his 20 years career as an MLA, he raised the issue of lady service bars in Panvel that reportedly destroyed the young generation. Following this the then State Home Minister R. R. Patil had banned such service in the state.
In February 2020, The Economic Offence Wing (EoW) of Navi Mumbai police 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 connection with the ₹512 crores scam of Panvel-based KNSB. The case was later transferred to the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Pune.
Patil named prime accused in KNSB scam case
A report of the special auditor of the Cooperation Department of Raigad named former MLA and founder-chairman Patil as a key accused in the ₹512,54,53,268 scam of KNSB. The other accused included 12 members of the bank management and 64 borrowers. They allegedly misappropriated a huge amount of the cooperative bank funds on the pretext of loans.
As per the report, on the basis of fake documents, without a property mortgage, loans were disbursed which were never recovered. In addition, loans were also given to trusts which were owned by Patil.
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