1

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

APPELLATE SIDE

Criminal Application No.2555 of 2008

Vilas Ganapatrao Gatade

Applicant

Vs.

The State of Maharashtra

Respondent

Mr.P.R.Arjunwadkar for applicant.

Mr.K.V.Saste, APP for State.

CORAM: D.B.BHOSALE, J.

Oct

P.C.

.

Heard Mr.Arjunwadkar, learned counsel for the

applicant and Mr. Saste, learned APP.

.

The applicant is seeking anticipatory bail in

C.R.

No.I-71

of

2008

of

Laxmipuri

Police

Station,

Kolhapur.

The

said

crime

has

been

registered

against

the

applicant

and

twenty

one

others

for

having

allegedly

committed

an

offence

punishable

under Sections 177, 403, 405, 406, 409, 415, 416,

417, 420, 463, 465, 467, 468 and 477(A) of IPC.

.

The applicant was one of the Directors of

Shri

Basweshwar

Co-operative

Credit

Society,

Kolhapur

from

1/4/1999

to

14/8/2004.

I

have

perused

the

FIR

dated

8/7/2008

lodged

by

the

Special

Auditor,

Class-I,

Co-operative

Society

(Sugar),

2

Sangli.

In

pursuance

of

the

order

dated

18/8/2007

issued

by

the

Special

Auditor,

Co-operative

Society,

Kolhapur,

the

test

audit

of

the

Credit

Society

was

conducted

for

the

period

between

1/4/2005

to

31/3/2006.

During

this

period

accused

nos.1

to

16

were

the

Directors,

whereas

accused

nos.17

to

19

were

Managers

and

accused

nos.20

to

22

were

working

as

Branch

Managers.

It

is

alleged

that

during

this

period

several

illegalities

/

irregularities

were

committed

in

the

banking

operations

by

all

the

accused

persons

which

caused

loss

to

the

said

Credit

Society

of

Rs.4.16

crores.

It

is

alleged

that

the

members

of

the

Board

of

Directors

of

the

said

Credit

Society

while

disbursing

the

loans

did

not

consider

the

capacity

of

borrowers,

details

of

mortgage,

capacity

of

repayment

of

loan

and

value

of

the

mortgaged

property

etc.

and

they

accepted

the

guarantee

of

the

persons

who

were

not

in

existence

and

thereby

caused

huge

loss

to

the

said

society.

So

far

as

the

present

applicant

is

concerned,

it

is

alleged

that

21

loans

of

Rs.194.90

lakhs

were

given

to

his

relatives

prior

to

1999

without

verifying

their

capacity

of

repayment

and

without

verifying

the

documents

submitted

by

them

by

way

of

security.

The

applicant

was

instrumental

in

granting

those

3

loans.

According

to

the

prosecution

the

total

sum

outstanding

with

agreed

rate

of

interest

against

the

relatives

of

the

applicant

as

of

today

is

almost

four

crores.

Till

filing

of

the

FIR

hardly

Rs.95

lakhs were paid by the relatives of the applicant

against 21 loan accounts.

.

On the last date of hearing Mr.Mundargi,

learned

Senior

Advocate

had

appeared

on

behalf

of

the

applicant

and

had

made

a

statement

before

this

Court

that

the

applicant

was

prepared

to

secure

the

outstanding

loan

amount

by

either

depositing

the

substantial

amount

or

by

furnishing

bank

guarantee.

Today

there

is

no

positive

response

forthcoming

from

the

applicant

in

order

to

secure

the

amount

outstanding against 21 loan accounts of his

relatives.

.

Today, once again, Mr. Arjunwadkar, learned

counsel

for

the

applicant

took

me

through

the

entire

material

placed

before

this

Court.

Upon

perusal

of

the

said

material

on

record,

I

am

satisfied

that

the

offence

in

the

present

case,

as

disclosed

in

the

FIR,