Rs 9.7cr Andhra Bank scam charge sheets filed by EOW

Nagpur: The Rs 9.73 crore loan scam at Andhra Bank’s Itwari branch has moved from the desk of a head constable at Lakadganj police station to the Senior PI of Economic Offences Wing (EOW), via Assistant CP of Lakadganj division. Finally, two charge sheets were filed in the case recently.
Some 69 loans in different parts of Vidarbha were issued by the bank staff against fake documents, to persons who did not even know there were applications in their names.
Registered at Lakadganj police station in July last year, the case was initially allotted to a head constable and then shifted to ACP, Lakadganj division, Balchandra Munde. He probed the case till December and also made five arrests before the case was transferred to the EOW at Crime Branch.
Though norms say cases over Rs 50 lakh would be probed by EOW, the Andhra Bank case arrived in the unit only after five arrests and almost the entire probe complete. A senior police officer said the case was shifted to EOW only after allegations of harassing witnesses and other persons.
Munde, when the case was transferred to EOW, had already arrested bank manager Anagha Bhusari as the mastermind with Mangesh Jagtap, who is yet to be nabbed. The Supreme Court had rejected the anticipatory bails of Bhusari and Jagtap.
Munde said the allegations surfaced when a head constable of Lakadganj police was handling the case. “I made all crucial arrests,” he said.
It was the first posting for Bhusari, who was earlier a probationary officer at Manewada branch. Bhusari, now behind bars for three months, has applied for bail along with her accomplice Vicky Jat, a clerk at Itwari branch. The sessions court has rejected the regular bail applications by both.
The three others arrested, Ajinkya Deshmukh, Amol Umale and Amit Bhagat, are yet to apply for bail. Deshmukh, Umale and Bhagat, all fake borrowers, were also arrested by assistant police commissioner Munde.
After the allegations of harassment, the city police top brass shifted the probe to EOW, which recently sent two charge sheets as the probe was almost complete. The first charge sheet was sent against Bhusari and Jat while the second in January this year was against Deshmukh, Umale and Bhagat.