High Court dismissed bail application of accused Agriculture Officer charged with misappropriating over Rs. 2.5 crore in bank loans via employee. Court rejected medical plea and granted no bail due to colossal amount involved.
Bail application rejected; accused not enlarged on bail.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
BA-1526-2021.DOC
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
BAIL APPLICATION NO. 1526 OF 2021
Rahul Ashok Bansode ...Applicant
Versus
The State of Maharashtra...Respondent
Mr. Kedar Patil for the Applicant.
Mr. A.A. Palkar, APP for the Respondent -State.
CORAM :V.G.BISHT, J.
RESERVED ON :15TH NOVEMBER, 2021
PRONOUNCED ON :24TH NOVEMBER, , 2021
PC:-
1.The present application has been moved by the
applicant under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure in Crime No. 362 of 2020 registered with Sangli
City Police Station for offences punishable under Sections
420, 406, 408, 409, 468, 471 read with 34 of the Indian Penal
Code (the IPC).
2. It is the case of prosecution that the applicant, at the
relevant time, was Agriculture Officer of Canara Bank,
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Branch Ram Mandir Chowk, Sangli. Accused Alok Victor
Xess was his clerk. The said Bank used to sanction loan to
the sugar farmers on the basis of guarantee furnished by
Sadguru Shri Shri Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited
Rajewadi Aatpadi. Both of them were having responsibility
of preparation of the papers pertaining to loan of farmers/
agriculturists and after due sanction of the loan, credit the
said loan amount in the account of borrowers. It was also
their responsibility to credit the amount deposited by
borrowers in their respective loan account to the account of
Sadguru Shri Shri Sahakari Sakhar Kharkhana.
The prosecution alleges that the said bank has
granted loan to the farmers through the said sugar factory
Sadguru Shri Shri Sahakari Sakhar Kharkhana. However,
the applicant and other accused, namely, Alok Victor Xess
transferred sanctioned loan amount to the farmers to their
own account and that of their relatives and friends. It is
further alleged that the applicant and other co-accused
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siphoned the amount to the tune of Rs. 1,90,00,000/-.
After an enquiry initiated by the said Bank, its Chief
Manager Mr. Gururaj Kulkarni found that in all there was
misappropriation of Rs. 2,53,92,600/-. Accordingly, the
First Information Report (FIR) came to be registered.
3.Mr. Patil, learned Counsel for the applicant, submits
that during the period of audit, it was found that the
applicant had siphoned off an amount of Rs. 34,27,150/-.
However, during the period of enquiry, the applicant had
suo moto deposited the amount of Rs. 17,00,000/- with the
Bank out of the said total amount of Rs. 34,27,150/-.
According to learned Counsel, other accused, namely,
Vinayak Raju Ballari and Dhanaji Sahebrao Patil are
released on bail. Investigation is over and the charge-sheet
has been filed. Moreover, the applicant is not keeping well
and has been advised angiography. For all these reasons,
the application deserves to be allowed.
4. Mr. Palkar, learned APP, on the other hand, opposes
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the submissions by submitting that a detailed affidavit of
the investigating officer is filed on record in which it is
clearly pointed out the modus operandi of applicant, who is
the main accused. According to learned APP, in case of H
& T and Basel Dose Loans, the loan proceeds are credited
to SB account of borrowers but thereafter it was found that
neither the proceeds were transferred to factory account
nor utilized by the borrowers for the purpose of which the
loan was disbursed. Instead, the loan amount credited to
SB account of borrowers was transferred in part/ full to SB
account of one or more customers and thereafter the
amount was directly or indirectly misappropriated by the
applicant by way of fund transfer through NEFT and also
by way of digital modes like mobile banking, internet
banking , phone pay, google pay etc.
5. Learned APP, then, next submits that for the aforesaid
reasons, the Bank appointed Shri Gururaj Kulkarni, Chief
Manager, Canara Bank as the investigating officer to
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investigate embezzlement committed by the applicant at
Canara Bank. After the enqiry, the said Shri Gururaj
Kulkarni submitted his report and it was found that the
applicant and his clerk, namely, Alok Victor Xess had taken
help from some people and transferred the loan amount,
which was granted to 10 account holders as well as Rs.
2,23,54,600/- from the account of Sadguru Shri Shri
Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited and also an amount of
Rs. 30,38,000/- from the account of eight account holders
and thus in total an amount of Rs. 2,53,92,600/- was
transferred to their own account and that of their relatives
and friends for their own benefits. Having regard to the
magnitude of the misappropriation, the applicant does not
deserve to be enlarged on bail, argued learned APP.
6. Perused investigation papers. I have also gone
through the investigation report dated 25th September,
2020 prepared by Shri. Gururaj Kulkarni of Canara Bank.
At the very outset, let me make it clear that the applicant in
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his own words submits that an amount of Rs. 17 lacs has
been deposited by him, albeit under protest. If the
applicant had nothing to do with the alleged
misappropriation, there was no reason for him to deposit
any amount as is claimed by him. Secondly, it has been also
pointed out from the record that accused Vinayak Ballari
and Dhanaji Patil have been granted bail but their roles are
altogether different and they are on different footing than
the applicant herein. The applicant is prime accused
inasmuch as he being an Agriculture Officer, was sole
responsible officer to take care of the loan amount right
from the disbursement to the recovery of the same from
borrowers. It was also his duty to transfer the loan
amounts which might have been paid to the Bank to
Sadguru Shri Shri Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited
inasmuch as Sadguru Shri Shri Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana
Limited had stood guarantor towards the loan transaction
in between Canara Bank and the sugar farmers.
Admittedly, this was not done.
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7.This brings me to the investigation report of Shri.
Gururaj Kulkarni, Chief Manager, Canara Bank, Laxmipuri
Branch, Kolhapur. This is a very detailed and exhaustive
report. There are investigation observations at serial No. 4
under the caption (Non-Advance / Credit Matters). Clause
No. (a) deals with violation of the prevailing Rules,
Regulations, Manual of instructions, systems and
procedures. At serial Nos. 1 to 5, it is clarified that how the
agriculture term loans were credited to SB account of the
borrowers but later on the said loan amounts were credited
to SB account of other customers thereby indicating that
the end use of such loans was not ensured by the AEO i.e
applicant and which is deviation from the existing
guidelines of the Bank. Even the account holders of SB
account were unaware of such huge transactions of their
account thereby implying that a huge number of
transactions were put through accounts of various
customers without their knowledge, consent or
authorization.
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8. There is further observation that the loan proceeds
were utilized by the applicant and his clerk Alok Victor Xess
after routing the same through Vinayak Ballari, who is on
bail and other customers. The end use of loans was not
ensured but instead the loan proceeds were utilized in
part/ full by the applicant and accused Alok Victor Xess in
violation of bank guarantee and guidelines. Then the
applicant’s modus operandi while committing the fraud is
given at clause (b)(v).
9. From the above, it is clear that the investigation
report is not in any manner assailed by the applicant.
Rather it shows that he had participated during audit
investigation and as a consequence had offered to deposit
Rs. 17 lacs, which he did by depositing the same.
10.Having regard to the colossal amount of
misappropriation, in my opinion, this is not a case where
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the applicant deserves to be enlarged on bail. As far as the
medical grounds canvassed by learned Counsel for the
applicant is concerned, same can be taken care of by the
jail authority, if any eventuality arises.
11.For the aforesaid reasons, I am not inclined to grant
bail. Hence, the following order :
ORDER
The Bail Application is rejected.
(V.G.BISHT, J. )
Digitally signed by TRUPTI TRUPTI SADANAND SADANAND BAMNE BAMNE Date: 2021.11.24 21:57:32 +0530
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether bail should be granted to an accused facing charges of large-scale loan misappropriation with a colossal amount involved.
Whether medical conditions of the applicant constitute sufficient ground to grant bail in a case of status offence involving financial fraud.
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Rahul Ashok Bansode
The State of Maharashtra
V.G. Bisht
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court