Cheating case against Maharashtra BJP minister Vikhe Patil, 53 others

Pune: Police in Maharashtra's Ahilyanagar district has registered a case against state BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 53 others including directors of a sugar mill for allegedly obtaining loans of nearly Rs 9 crore in the names of farmers using forged documents.

The case was registered at Loni police station on Monday following a directive from a court in Rahata, an official said.

The accused include then chairman and directors of Padmashri Vikhe Patil Sahakari Karkhana (cooperative sugar mill) along with officials of the Union Bank of India and Bank of India.

The complaint was filed by Balasaheb Vikhe, a sugarcane cultivator and member of the cooperative sugar mill.

As per the complaint, the irregularity occurred in 2004. The then chairman and directors of the mill allegedly prepared loan proposals using forged documents in the names of member-farmers. With the help of bank officials, they allegedly secured loans of Rs 3.11 crore and Rs 5.74 crore.

However, the loan amounts were never credited to the accounts of the farmers in whose names the proposals had been submitted. Instead, the money was siphoned off by sugar mill officials and bank staff, the complaint said.

The accused also allegedly benefited from a government farm loan waiver scheme.

The offence was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code after the magistrate's court, acting on a petition filed under section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, directed the police to initiate action, the official said.

The section empowers a magistrate to order a police investigation into a cognizable offense.

Reacting to the development, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sushma Andhare said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should immediately seek Vikhe Patil's resignation.

"This is matter of shame for the Mahayuti government," she told reporters.