MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided 10 premises across Maharashtra, including a Bandra (West) educational institution, after registering a money laundering case against Parbani sugar baron Ratnakar Gutte, a leader of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), which is an ally of the BJP in the state.
According to the ED, Gutte, chairman of Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Pvt Lt (GSEPL), fraudulently took ‘crop loans’ in the name of around 10,000 farmers, some of them even dead, between 2012 and 2017 after forging their documents and defrauded Rs 328 crore from Andhra Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India, Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and Ratnakar Bank. GSEPL stood guarantor for these loans.
Ratnakar’s son Vijay is the director of ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’. In the 2014 assembly election, Ratnakar contested as an RSP candidate but lost to NCP. In the recent LS elections, RSP’s Kanchan Kul contested from Baramati on BJP symbol; she lost to NCP’s Supriya Sule.
In the ED case, it is alleged that the accused created bogus bank accounts in the name of farmers and applied for loans. From these accounts, the accused would transfer the loan amount to a current account of GSEPL and from there it would be diverted to 23 companies. The ED suspects the involvement of bank officers and employees in the fraud.
The fraud came to light when a few farmers approached the same banks for loan only to be told that there were pending loans against their names. Most of the victims were members of Gutte’s sugar factory.
According to the ED, Gutte, chairman of Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Pvt Lt (GSEPL), fraudulently took ‘crop loans’ in the name of around 10,000 farmers, some of them even dead, between 2012 and 2017 after forging their documents and defrauded Rs 328 crore from Andhra Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India, Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and Ratnakar Bank. GSEPL stood guarantor for these loans.
Ratnakar’s son Vijay is the director of ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’. In the 2014 assembly election, Ratnakar contested as an RSP candidate but lost to NCP. In the recent LS elections, RSP’s Kanchan Kul contested from Baramati on BJP symbol; she lost to NCP’s Supriya Sule.
In the ED case, it is alleged that the accused created bogus bank accounts in the name of farmers and applied for loans. From these accounts, the accused would transfer the loan amount to a current account of GSEPL and from there it would be diverted to 23 companies. The ED suspects the involvement of bank officers and employees in the fraud.
The fraud came to light when a few farmers approached the same banks for loan only to be told that there were pending loans against their names. Most of the victims were members of Gutte’s sugar factory.
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