A court in Nagpur has imprisoned former Maharashtra Minister and Congress MLA Sunil Kedar for five years. The case relates to misappropriation of money belonging to farmers from the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB).
Besides Mr. Kedar, the court held five others, including the then general manager Ashok Choudhary, guilty in the two-decade-old case which dates back to 2001-2002 when the Congressman was chairman of the NDCCB.
Mr. Kedar, a five-term MLA from Saoner Assembly constituency in Nagpur, was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and other sections.
According to sources, he faces imminent arrest if his bail is rejected.
₹125 crore lost
According to the prosecution, the NDCCB lost ₹125 crores placed in government securities in 2002 because rules were flouted while investing through Home Trade Securities, an investment firm.
The judgement casts a shadow on Mr. Kedar’s future as a legislator. It is also a major blow for the Congress in Maharashtra ahead of the 2024 elections, given that Mr. Kedar is a stalwart party face in Vidarbha – the region where the Congress’ strength in the State is concentrated.
In August 2021, former Congressman MLA from Nagpur Ashish Deshmukh (now with the ruling BJP), had demanded action against Mr. Kedar, who was the Dairy and Animal Husbandry Minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Mr. Deshmukh sought Mr. Kedar’s dismissal from the state cabinet and prosecution for the NDCCB scam.
Mr. Deshmukh accused Mr. Kedar of getting a lawyer who was also his friend appointed as government pleader in the NDCCB scam case.
Massive irregularities within the NDCCB first came to light in 2002. After a protracted investigation over the next 12 years, Mr. Kedar, who was the bank’s Chairman in 2000, was slapped with a Bombay High Court notice (issued by the Nagpur bench) in 2014 which directed him, Ashok Choudhary and nine others to pay defaulted dues amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees.
