Rs 409 crore bank fraud: CBI registers FIR against Maharashtra MLA Ratnakar Gutte, family

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 10

The anti-graft central probe agency CBI has registered an FIR against Maharashtra MLA and sugar baron Ratnakar Gutte and Gangakhed Sugar & Energy Limited for an alleged bank fraud of Rs 409.26 crore, officials said on Friday.

The officials said apart from Gutte and his sugar firm, the CBI has also named his sons and other family members in the FIR. Gutte won the Gangakhed seat as a Rashtriya Samaj Paksha candidate in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The officials said that the CBI in its investigation found that Gutte is one of the directors of Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Limited.

In the FIR the CBI has alleged that Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Limited had availed various credit facilities to the tune of Rs 577.16 crore in the form of a term loan, working capital facility and other loans from a consortium of banks led by UCO Bank between 2008 and 2015, the officials said.

It is also learnt from the officials that CBI officials had recently searched the premises of Gutte and other accused at two places in Nagpur and three in Parbani.

Gutte’s sons and other family members have been named in the FIR on the charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code, and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed a chargesheet against Gutte and Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Limited for alleged money-laundering in December last year.

The bank has alleged in its complaint, now part of the CBI FIR, that the company has potentially diverted loan funds and availed excess drawing power in working capital by overstating net current assets in a stock statement. This resulted in a cash crunch for the company, caused a loss to the business and ultimately resulted in non-payment of dues to banks, making the account a non-performing asset, it alleged.

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