Former Maharashtra minister sentenced to 5 years in bank fraud case

Mumbai: A special court on Friday held former Maharashtra minister and Congress MLA Sunil Kedar and five others guilty in the Rs 150 crore Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank scam. The court has reportedly sentenced Kdar to five years of imprisonment in the case, which came to light 20 years ago.

Additional chief judicial magistrate Jyoti Peckhle hearing the case may pronounce the judgement on Friday. Kedar, who was then the bank's chairman, was a primary accused in this scandal. Along with Kedar, others found guilty are Ketan Sheth, Nandkishore Trivedi, Ashok Chaudhary, Subodh Bhandari -- all from Mumbai, and Amit Verma of Ahmedabad.

The judge acquitted another three accused in the case that continued for nearly 21 years from 2002. Among various charges, Kedar and others were accused of flouting norms by diverting the cooperative bank's funds to private entities for purchasing government securities which led to substantial losses to the NDCCB.

In September 2022, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court directed the designated court presided over by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) overseeing the Rs 152 crore Government Security (Gilt) scam, also known as the NDCCB scam, to provide an update on the trial's progress.

The NDCCB scam, which impacted the Nagpur District Central Co-Operative Bank in 2002, had witnessed sluggish progress in both the criminal trial and investigation.

The High Court highlighted that the designated court, led by ACJM S R Totla, initiated the recording of witness testimony on September 19, following the issuance of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).