Former Maharashtra minister Sunil Kedar sentenced to five years imprisonment in NDCCB fund misappropriation case

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Former Maharashtra Minister and Congress lawmaker Sunil Kedar has been sentenced to fives years imprisonment for misappropriation of funds at the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB).

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate J V Pekhle-Purkar in Maharashtra's Nagpur on Friday pronounced the judgement in the case which dates back to 2002.

Among other provisions, Kedar was held guilty under Indian Penal Code section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), newswire PTI reported.

As per the prosecution, the NDCCB lost Rs 125 crore in government securities in 2002 as rules were flouted while investing funds through Home Trade Securities, an investment firm. Kedar was then chairman of the bank.

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).

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In November 2019, the trial court concluded the formulation of charges related to criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, forgery, and criminal conspiracy in the NDCCB scam.

Sunil Kedar, who was the Saoner MLA at the time, along with eight others, was implicated in the case.

Charges were framed under sections 406, 409, 468, 471, 120-B, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code against them. Kedar served as the Chairman of NDCCB during the 2002 scam.

Other persons facing charges include stock-broker Ketan Seth from Mumbai, Mahendra Agrawal, Shreeprakash Poddar, former GM of NDCCB K D Chaudhari, then chief accountant Suresh Peshkar, Subodh Bhandari, Kanan Mewawala, Nandkishor Trivedi, and Amit Verma. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had filed a chargesheet against all the accused before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) on November 22, (With inputs from agencies)