Bank scam case: Nagpur court refuses to stay Congress leader Sunil Kedar's conviction, denies him bail

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A sessions court in Nagpur on Saturday declined to stay the conviction of former Maharashtra minister and Congress leader Sunil Kedar in a bank scam case and also rejected his plea for suspension of the five-year sentence handed to him by a lower court last week.

District Judge RS Patil also rejected the bail plea of Kedar, newswire PTI reported.

A magistrate's court in Nagpur on December 22 sentenced Kedar and five others to five years' rigorous imprisonment for misappropriation of funds at the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB) in 2002. Kedar was chairman of the bank at the time of the scam.

The court also fined the six convicts with Rs 10 lakh each.

Keadar had challenged his conviction and sentencing before the sessions court through an application filed by his lawyer Deven Chavhan, which was heard on Saturday.

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 Private Limited.

Kedar was convicted under Indian Penal Code Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating, 471 (whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention).

Following his conviction, the state legislature secretariat disqualified Kedar as MLA from the date of his conviction on December 22 under provisions of Article 19 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India and Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

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Meanwhile, Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday filed a chargesheet against a resident of Maharashtra for allegedly cheating a businessman of Rs 1.70 crore on the pretext of supplying food grains in 2019, an official said.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Crime Branch, Jammu, presented a 504-page chargesheet in a court here against accused Parvin Kumar Ninawe, a resident of Nagpur in Maharashtra for allegedly defrauding Suresh Gupta, proprietor of the Shona Trust Corporation, a spokesman of the agency said.

Gupta is engaged in the business of sale-purchase and supply of food grains and other allied products to the government as well as to the public.

Gupta, in his complaint to Jammu Crime Branch, alleged that he made payment of Rs 3.11 crore to the accused from time to time but the accused supplied goods worth only Rs 1.41 crore to him and the remaining amount was neither returned nor any goods were supplied by the accused, the spokesman said.

He said the accused also issued a cheque of Rs 60 lakh to the complainant but it was dishonoured by the bank.

On receipt of the complaint, a preliminary verification was conducted and during the course of inquiry the allegations made were prima-facie substantiated leading to the registration of a formal case under the relevant sections, the spokesman said.

He said the offences under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code are established against Ninawe, who is on bail. (With inputs from PTI)