CA auditor arrested in ₹97.4 cr scam in Ajanta Urban Coop Bank

A case of loan scam, cheating, criminal breach of trust, and forgery has been filed against the management of the Ajanta Urban Cooperative Bank as well as the employees involved who have worked there since March 2006.

According to city police, the scam is worth Rs 97.4 crore. The bank’s auditor has already been arrested.

The City Chowk police filed a formal complaint late on Wednesday, citing a complaint made by Suresh Kakde, the special auditor for the cooperative societies department.

The filing included the names of Ajanta Urban Cooperative Bank’s auditor Satish Mohre, CEO Pradeep Kulkarni, and outgoing chairman and former Congress MLC Subhash Zambad.

“We are ready to assist in the ongoing probe,” Zambad stated, denying all accusations made against him.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which took over the case, detained Mohre and brought him before a judge on Thursday. He was placed under police remand.

Mohre audited the bank’s transactions for the financial year 2022–2023 but did not raise any red flags regarding the 36 suspicious or dubious loan transactions, according to EOW inspector Sambhaji Pawar.

“After the department of cooperative societies’ special auditor audited the cooperative bank, it was discovered that these transactions violated the laws and existing norms,” stated Pawar.

According to the officer, Mohre also submitted a forged balance sheet and forged certificates, claiming that Ajanta Bank had deposits totalling Rs.32.8 crore across three different banks.

Restrictions on the bank’s transactions were put in place, according to the police, after the Reserve Bank of India was made aware of the purportedly questionable transactions.