Dilip Walse-Patil at the Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty) Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Wednesday said that he would soon hand over cases of bank frauds amounting to over Rs 13,000 crore to the Central Bureau of investigation (CBI). The minister said this in his reply after BJP MLA Ashish Shelar alleged in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly that various companies duped nationalised banks in the state to the tune of Rs 13,043 crore, but the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has not allowed the CBI to investigate these matters.
Earlier, CBI could register cases on its own in the Maharashtra, but the MVA government had withdrawn “general consent” given to the agency to probe cases in the state. The decision means the central agency will have to get consent from the state government for every case it registers in Maharashtra.
Speaking in the Assembly, Shelar said, “Various companies have duped nationalised banks to the tune of Rs 13,043.57 crore. The CBI has sought permission from the state government to investigate and file complaints. Why isn’t the government giving permission?”
He gave details of 13 cases in connection to which the CBI had, in 2020-2021, had written to the government seeking permission to investigate.
Shelar said while the CBI had written to the government on January 11, 2021, seeking to probe an alleged fraud of Rs 739 crore at Bank of Baroda, the agency had on December 8, 2020, sought permission of the state to investigate an alleged fraud of Rs 1,107 crore at Punjab National Bank.
He added that on March 30, 2021, the CBI had written to the state, seeking nod to probe an alleged scam of Rs 433 crore at the State Bank of India (SBI). In August 2021, it had sought permission from the state to probe an alleged scam of Rs 448 crore at the Union Bank of India (UBI).
Shelar said that the central agency, on September 8, 2021, had written to the MVA government seeking permission to probe an alleged fraud of Rs 987 crore at Yes Bank.
Giving more such instances, Shelar said CBI had sought permission from the state to probe an alleged scam of Rs 624 crore at SBI on March 2, 2021. It had again written to the government on November 11, seeking nod to probe a scam of Rs 1,987 crore in the bank.
He added that the central agency had also sought the government’s nod on March 31, 2021, to probe an alleged scam of Rs 4,037 crore at UBI.
“The CBI has written two letters to the state on February 11 and 16, seeking to probe alleged scams worth Rs 1,053 crore and Rs 225 crore, respectively, in Yes Bank,” Shelar told the House.
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