Nagpur: Acting on a tip-off, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of City Crime Branch nabbed one more accused wanted in the Rs 39 crore Navodaya Bank scam.
The arrested accused, Sameer Bhaskar Chatte (48), resident of ‘Girijashankar,’ House No. 617, behind Nataraj Talkies, Zenda Square, Mahal, worked in Navodaya Urban Cooperative Bank as Chief Executive Officer between 2007 and 2012 when the Rs 39 crore scam was perpetrated. Chatte was rounded up from his residence in Mahal on Wednesday, October 16.
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06 May 2025
The accused Sameer Chatte has been accused of sanctioning huge loans beyond the bank’s exposure limits without scrutinising properly the mortgage papers submitted by the loan seekers and knowing the parties have no capacity to pay back the loans. The accused Chief Executive Officer Chatte between 2007 and 2012, sanctioned loans to Gladstone Group of wanted accused Sachin Mittal and Balkishan Gandhi, Hingal Group, Jham Builder Group, Joshi Group and other loan seekers without scrutinsing the mortgage papers in connivance with Bank Chairman Ashok Dhawad and Board of Directors.
Moreover, the accused, taking undue advantge of his post, got a loan of 7.50 lakh sanctioned for himself on November 30, 2009 for purchasing a plot without submitting mortgage papers. He paid back some loan amount but stopped returning money when he quit the job on May 16, 2012. The bank record shows the accused Chatte owed the bank total amount of Rs 5.55 lakh including capital loan amount Rs 1.85 lakh and interest Rs 3.69 lakh.
The arrest was made by an EOW squad comprising Assistant PSIs Kishore Chute, Suresh Wankhede, head constable Dnyaneshwar Wankhede, and Woman Police Sepoy Bharti Made.
The main accused in the Navodaya Bank scam are former Congress MLA Ashok Dhawad and his wife Kiran. Dhawad, who was the Bank’s Chairman has been charged with fraud, forgery and criminal breach of trust along with 16 other ex-directors of the bank. In the scam pertaining to misappropriation of funds in Navodaya Urban Cooperative Bank, Dhawad along with 16 other bank directors have been booked by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on the basis of a complaint lodged by the auditor of State Department of Cooperatives. All of them were accused of duping hundreds of investors by distributing bogus loans between 2010 and 2015. Subsequently, the cooperative bank had gone into liquidation after its banking license was cancelled few months ago. Frauds were reported following an audit conducted for financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17 allegedly involving Dhawad and his team of directors.
