NCP leader Ajit Pawar.Saying that it is “not going to interfere with the High Court order”, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition to quash the probe against NCP leader Ajit Pawar and others in connection with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah was hearing a plea challenging the August 22 Bombay High Court order asking the police to register an FIR against Pawar and others in connection with the scam which allegedly caused an estimated Rs 1,000 crore loss to the bank between 2007 and 2011. The court said the probe will proceed uninfluenced by any observation made by the High Court.
Acting on the HC direction, the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police had registered an FIR against Pawar and 70 former functionaries on charges of cheating and forgery.
Ajit Pawar and others had moved Supreme Court challenging the HC order. The petitioners contended that all of them were not heard by the HC but the court did not accept the argument.
The HC said that police had not filed an FIR despite an inspection report of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development for the year 2009-10 and chargesheet filed by a quasi-judicial inquiry commission under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies (MCS) Act showing “glaring irregularities”.
