The Bombay High Court directed police to register FIR against NCP leader Ajit Pawar and over 70 others in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam on Thursday, observing that they seemed to have "complete knowledge" that their actions would cause a huge loss to the bank.
The court asked Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing to register an FIR against the accused within five days. Prima facie there was "credible evidence" against the accused, it added. Pawar, PWP leader Jayant Patil and several former directors of the bank are accused of violating banking and RBI regulations while disbursing loans to sugar mills at very low rates and selling off assets of defaulter businesses at throw-away prices. Such sale of assets, disbursement of cheap loans and a failure to ensure repayment resulted in losses of over Rs 1,000 crore to the bank between 2007 and 2011, it is alleged.
The accused also forged records and fudged figures to show the bank was making profits, it is alleged.
Pawar was a director of the bank during the relevant period.
Inquiries by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and a charge sheet filed by a quasi-judicial inquiry commission under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act had blamed Pawar and other accused for the bank's losses.