A manager of a credit co-operative society has been booked by the police in Pune for allegedly embezzling ₹1 crore from its Shivajinagar branch between 2015 and 2019. The complaint was lodged by a government auditor at the Shivajinagar Police Station on Monday.
The accused manager has been identified as Swaraj Balasaheb Shinde, a resident of Hadapsar.
According to the information, the manager was entrusted with overseeing daily transactions, maintaining records, and verifying borrowers and witnesses before sanctioning loans. However, the accused allegedly prepared fake and fabricated loan proposals and approved loans without following mandatory verification procedures.
The cooperative society neither received EMIs for the sanctioned loans nor carried out any recovery follow-up with the borrowers.
Mahesh Bolkotgi, Senior Police Inspector of Shivajinagar Police Station, said the manager misused his power and authorised loans based on fabricated documents. Following these irregularities, the state cooperative department ordered a detailed investigation.
An audit later revealed that the manager, along with some other employees, sanctioned loans in violation of prescribed norms. It is still unclear where the funds were diverted and who benefited from them. At the initial stage, it is suspected that the manager gained from the misappropriation.
The audit report confirmed the misappropriation of ₹1 crore. Accordingly, police have initiated further investigation to identify other beneficiaries and recover the diverted funds. The matter is under investigation.
