Nagpur: Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke at the Nagpur Bench of the High Court has denied regular bail to fraudsters Anand Prabhakar Kakde, VS Wakalpudi, and Pravin Narayan Mendhe, who are accused in loan scam of over Rs 113 crore. The case was registered at Mouda Police Station in the Nagpur Rural area.
The court’s decision was based on the principles established by the Supreme Court regarding the handling of cases involving complex conspiracies and socio-economic offences. Justice Joshi-Phalke remarked that the applicants had failed to establish a prima facie case warranting the grant of bail. The judge noted that these types of offences, which deeply impact the moral fabric of society, require a distinct and stringent approach when considering bail applications.
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Thursday 16 Jan. 2025
A complaint was lodged by Ramkrushna Ambulkar, a farmer, who alleged that he and his colleagues, Vijay Wankhede and Nilkanth Chikhale, had been duped by the accused. According to the complaint, co-accused Ramanrao Bolla, who operates a business dealing in paddy, pulses, and other grains, was involved in the scam. The scheme purportedly involved compensating small farmers affected by natural calamities.
The accused, including Wakalpudi, allegedly misled the complainants and other farmers by claiming that the government was implementing a compensation scheme. They took the farmers to a bank, ostensibly to open accounts for the compensation payments, but instead collected their personal documents under false pretext. Further inquiry into the case has unveiled that the accused are implicated in a large-scale scam where poor, often landless farmers were deceived. Additionally, the bank has reportedly seized the farmers’ earnings during recovery proceedings.
The defrauded farmers are from Mouda, Parsheoni and Ramtek. Mouda police have registered a case of conspiracy and cheating against 18 people.
Post the 2017 drought in the district, when the farmers were facing a financial crisis, the accused lured farmers by claiming that drought-affected farmers would receive help from the government.
With the help of his accomplices, the allegedly brought 151 farmers to Corporation Bank on Kingsway in Sadar and opened bank accounts in their name. Cheque books too were issued to the farmers.
Bolla allegedly took signatures of the farmers and kept the cheques with himself. He then applied for loans against grain mortgaged in warehouses of the farmers through forged documents. Based on that, loans were sanctioned to the farmers. The loan amount was diverted to 24 various accounts through cheques, said cops. The fraud came to light after recovery notices were sent to the farmers.
Advocates S V Sirpurkar, A C Jaltare and M N Ali appeared for the applicants while APP NB Jawade represented the State.
