Pune: Sleuths from Maharashtra CID, based in Pune, on Tuesday nabbed Shravan Kisan Bawne, the former managing director of Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe Vikas Mahamandal, in Rajkot, Gujarat, in connection with the Rs 312 crore scam. He had been working as a garage mechanic there.
CID Chief Sanjay Kumar told Sakal Times, “Bawne was being taken to a court in Bhandara district in Vidarbha.” The main accused NCP leader Ramesh Kadam was arrested in 2015 and currently, he is lodged in Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. Bawne had been absconding since then.
The mahamandal was set up in 1985 with the objective of raising the standard of living of member of the Matang community living below the poverty line in Maharashtra.
According to CID, the office-bearers of the State-run organisation had siphoned off Rs 312 crore between August 2012 and December 2014. Initially, the fraud amount was estimated around Rs 147 crore, but during subsequent investigations, the amount escalated to Rs 312 crore. The office-bearers allegedly prepared a list of poor people and sought housing loans in their names.
In several cases, the names mentioned in the mahamandal’s register are different from those mentioned on the cheques. The so-called beneficiaries are not even aware that loans were taken in their names. The CID has uploaded a list of about 33,000 beneficiaries against whose names loans were taken on its website. The scam is spread over 30 districts of the State.
Siphoning money
According to CID, the office-bearers of the State-run organisation had siphoned off Rs 312 crore between August 2012 and December 2014.
The main accused NCP leader Ramesh Kadam was arrested in 2015 and currently, he is lodged in Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.
Shravan Kisan Bawne, former MD of Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe Vikas Mahamandal, was nabbed in Rajkot, Gujarat
