A special court in Mumbai on Friday accepted the closure report filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in the alleged Rs 25,000 crore loan disbursal case linked to sugar mills and the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, clearing late Ajit Pawar and other accused of criminal charges, The Hindu reported.
The order was passed by Special Judge Mahesh Jadhav, who handles cases involving MPs and MLAs. The court accepted the ‘C-Summary’ report submitted by the EOW, which stated that no criminal offence was established in the case. Protest petitions filed by social activist Anna Hazare and others opposing the closure were also rejected.
The case revolved around alleged irregularities in loans granted by district cooperative banks to sugar factories, spinning mills and other entities without following prescribed procedures. The MSCB is Maharashtra’s apex cooperative bank. The EOW had earlier claimed that these irregularities, between January 2007 and December 2017, resulted in losses of Rs 25,000 crore to the state exchequer.
The investigation began in 2019 following directions from the Bombay High Court. Apart from Pawar, who was then a director of one of the district banks, the FIR named several government officials and former directors and officers of the state cooperative bank.
The matter witnessed multiple developments over the years. During the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, in which Pawar served as finance minister, the EOW had filed a closure report stating that no offence was made out. After a change in government in 2022, the agency sought to reopen the probe. However, in January 2024, months after Pawar split the Nationalist Congress Party and joined the ruling alliance, the EOW again filed a closure report.
The court’s decision comes nearly a month after Pawar, who was serving as Deputy Chief Minister, died in a plane crash in Baramati.
