Mumbai: The Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Tuesday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam.
A deputy commissioner of police will head the team, which comprises police officers from the EOW’s bank scam wing.
The accused’s statements are likely to be recorded after a preliminary investigation, officials said.
According to the FIR registered against the alleged culprits on Monday, the state exchequer suffered a loss of Rs 25,000 crore due to the scam, which was carried out between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2017.
The SIT is in the process of procuring documents that were submitted before the Bombay high court by the petitioner Surinder Arora.
Officials said that the team would first study the relevant documents. “Bank records related to loan disbursements and bad loans between 2007 and 2017 will be studied and subsequently, the team will decide the next step. The money trail will be the focus of the probe,” said an EOW officer.
The case was filed against former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and others following the orders of the Bombay high court on Thursday.
Officials said that those named in the case include leaders of the NCP, the Congress, Shiv Sena and a politician of the ruling BJP. The police will first rummage through the documents pertaining to the case following which further action will be initiated.
While hearing the case, the court had stated that there was “credible evidence” against the accu-sed. Besides these politicians, several senior cooperative bank officials from 34 districts in the state have also been named as accused.
