aba 646.2020

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.

CRIMINAL APPLICATION (ABA) NO. 646 OF 2020

(Ajay Bhaskar Kulkarni, Pune Vs. State of Maharashtra)

__________________________________________________________________________

Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram,

appearances, Court'

s orders of directions

Court'

s or Judge'

s orders.

and Registrar'

s Orders.

Shri S.V. Sirpurkar, Advocate for the applicant.

Shri M.J. Khan, A.P.P. for the respondent.

.....

CORAM : PUSHPA V. GANEDIWALA, J.

JANUARY 25, 2021.

Heard.

2.

The present application is filed by the

applicant apprehending his arrest in Crime No.

687/2019 dated 02/07/2019 registered at Police

Station, Gadge Nagar, District Amravati for the

offence punishable under Sections 409, 420 and 109

read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860

(for short “IPC”).

3.

The allegation against the present

applicant, as per the prosecution case, is that he

having hand-in-gloves with the main accused Ganesh

Chaudhari, has misappropriated an amount of Rs. 1

crore and 34 lakh.

4.

The prosecution story, in nutshell, is that

on 02/07/2019, the informant Digambar – an

Accountant, Convergence of Agricultural Intervention

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in Maharashtra (CAIM), Amravati, lodged a report

with the Gadge Nagar Police Station stating therein

that CAIM project was started in the year 2009 and

was for a period up to December 2017. Lateron, it

was extended for a period of one year i.e. up to

December 2018. The present applicant was the

Additional Project Director of the said project during

the period between 26/10/2016 to 31/01/2018. The

said project is funded by International Fund for

Agricultural Development - an agency of United

Nations having its headquarter in Italy. The said

program was for upliftment of distressed districts due

to suicide of farmers.

5.

It is alleged that the present applicant,

while working as an Additional Project Director, has

misappropriated funds and have floated the

procurement guidelines issued by the IFDA, Delhi, in

collusion with the other accused persons.

6.

Initially, the report was lodged against

accused No.1 Ganesh Chaudhari. Considering the

gravity and volume of the offence, the investigation

came to be transferred to the Economic Offences

Wing, Amravati. The activities under the said

program includes Vocational Development training,

LEISA KIT training, Fodder Kit distribution and Dairy

Kit distribution.

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7.

The present applicant being the

Additional Project Director was required to assist and

observe the programs, which were to be

implemented at the district levels through the District

Project Manager - the contractual employee of the

project. It is alleged that initially, the present

applicant had posed himself as a General Manager of

the Solace Company, which expressed its interest in

imparting training of live stock development even

before it was registered. The applicant had forwarded

mails to all the District Project Management and

Implementing Agency in the capacity of General

Manager of the Solace Company by using e-mail I.D.

of the Bilips Company. It is further alleged that it was

misrepresented before the international agency that

the applicant was working with the Bilips Company.

8.

The auditor in his report specifically

mentioned the role of the present applicant in

granting benefits and disbursal of amount to the

Solace Company and also to the Yashasvi Academy,

where the applicant was initially working. It is

further alleged that the Directors of the Solace

Company includes wife of accused Nos.2 and 3 and

nephew of accused No.1, and the present applicant

was working as a General Manager with the Solace

Company, and that this connection is sufficient to

show modus operandi of siphoning the public money.

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9.

Shri Sirpurkar, learned counsel for the

applicant, submits that the other co-accused Ganesh

has already been granted regular bail by the trial

Court vide