The State Government on Friday came out with a detailed account of the action being taken on the accused while stating that ‘despicable efforts are being made to weaken the prosecution and divert the attention from the facts of the case involving Indira Priyadarshini Nagrik Sahakari Bank, Raipur, an official statement issued here stated.
Keeping this in view, the senior Government officials have come out with a chronology of the case with detailed accounts of the administrative and police action taken so far, it stated. As per the details made available by the officials, the Government while taking congnizance of the seriousness of the case commenced a process for payment of amount upto Rs 1 lakh on a personal level to the depositors of the bank to protect their financial interests.
As a result, till March 31, 2013, a total of 21,207 depositors were paid a total amount of Rs 14.80 crore. The bank was registered under Co-operative Societies Act 1960 on August 23, 1995 and the Banking license was issued on January 12, 1995. On August 2, 2006, serious financial irregularities committed by the Manager and the Governing Board came to light and subsequently the banking operation was closed on the same day on August 2, 2006. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 4, 2007 cancelled the license of the bank.
As a consequence of the cancellation of the banking license, on the order of the Registrar of Co-operatives on October 12, 2007, the bank was brought under liquidation and the process of liquidation was complete by the liquidator on October 15, 2007. The Indira Priyadharshini Nagrik Sahakari Bank, Raipur was registered as an insured bank under Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (D.I.C.G.C) Act 1961 under which the depositors had insurance coverage on their deposits upto a sum of Rs 1 lakh.
The liquidator had put up the claims before the Indian Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation in Mumbai for which approval was granted and the process of paying an amount upto Rs 1 lakh to the depositors was commenced. On March 31, 2013, a total of 21,207 depositors were paid Rs 14.80 crore in which the bank’s capital amounting to more than Rs 1.02 crore was included.
As per July 25, 2013, an estimated total of Rs 16.15 crore is to be paid to the remaining 971 depositors of the bank in which the number of depositors with deposits of less than Rs 1 lakh is 503 who are to be paid a total sum of Rs 1.67 crore. The liquidator is finding in cases where the depositors are not available on their addresses which raises their suspicion that there were fake accounts opened with the bank which is being investigated by the police.
This apart, there are 368 depositors having deposits of more than Rs 1 lakh whose total outstanding at Rs 14.48 crore could be received by making recovery from the debtors. The bank had a total loan outstanding of Rs 28.36 crore in the books of accounts which are related to loan accounts opened prior to December 2003.
The bank had so far recovered Rs 7.36 crore and as per March 31, 2013. A total of Rs 20.99 crore is yet to be recovered from 735 loan members. The 735 loan members include 16 such firms from which a total of Rs 18.14 crore are to be recovered. The recovery is being made difficult by the fact that a majority of the firms from which the loans are to be recovered are fake. The officials informed that loan recovery process is underway to recover a total of Rs 12.93 crore from 14 firms under Chhattisgarh Co-operative Societies Act 1960 Sector 84 (K).
Criminal cases had been registered against a total of 19 persons comprising members of the Governing Board, the then Manager of the Bank and other employees.The recovery of the amount would be made by forfeiture of the property of the persons against whom cases had been registered. The Narco test of the accused Umesh Sinha was conducted after receiving permission from the Court on June 7, 2007 at Forensic Science laboratory (FSl), Bengaluru following which the investigators closely examined the CD. An Expert on examination of the CD commented : ‘ It was found that the accused appears to be concealing of the relevant information with regard to misappropriation of funds in the Mahila Shahkari Bank, Raipur’, the press release added.