Money laundering case: SC grants interim bail to ex-chairman of Pune cooperative bank

The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim bail on medical grounds to former chairman of a Pune-based cooperative bank in a case linked to alleged fraud and misappropriation of funds of the lender worth Rs 429 crore.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra gave relief to Amar Sadhuram Mulchandani, the ex-chairman of the Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank, after taking note of his medical condition.

The top court perused a report filed by a board of four expert doctors of the J J Hospital, Mumbai.

It also took into account that Mulchandani has been inside jail for over an year.

The money laundering probe against Mulchandani, who was arrested on July 1 last year, and others stems from multiple FIRs registered by the Pune Police on the basis of complaints of the bank and the audit conducted by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies which pointed to “large-scale” fraud and misappropriation of public funds causing a loss of Rs 429 crore to the Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank “causing loss to thousands of small depositors”.

The bank was "being run like a family proprietorship by Amar Mulchandani without following any prudent banking norms and favoured loans were sanctioned in return of massive kickbacks”, the ED had said.

According to the agency, more than 92 per cent of the loan accounts had turned into NPA which ultimately led to the collapse of the bank and the RBI later cancelled the license of the bank.

Mulchandani and five of his family members were earlier arrested by the Maharashtra Police for “obstructing” an ED raid conducted against the former bank chairman on January 27 and for alleged “destruction of evidence.” Assets worth Rs 122.35 crore, including some “benami” properties of Mulchandani, were also provisionally attached by the agency earlier.