Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra minister Sunil Kedar was disqualified from the state legislative Assembly after he was convicted by a court for misappropriating funds at the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB). According to a gazette order of the state legislature secretariat issued on Saturday, Kedar stands disqualified as an MLA from the date of his conviction on December 22 under provisions of Article 19 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India and Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The Congress leader’s constituency Saoner, which is in the Nagpur district, has become vacant from the date of his conviction, the order said.
A magistrate's court in Nagpur on Friday sentenced Kedar and five others to five years' rigorous imprisonment for misappropriation of funds at the NDCCB. The case dates back to 2002.
Conviction of Kedar
A five-time MLA, Kedar was convicted under the Indian Penal Code Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating, 471 (whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention).
The six convicts, including Kedar, were fined Rs 10 lakh each.
What did the prosecution and judge say?
According to the prosecution, the NDCCB lost Rs 125 crore in government securities in 2002 after rules were broken while investing funds through Home Trade Private Limited. Kedar was then the chairman of the bank.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Pekhle-Purkar, in her judgement, said that Kedar and one other accused were entrusted with the entire stake of the bank. The fund in question was the hard earned money of the people and members of the bank, most of whom were poor farmers from Nagpur, the judge said.
The court noted that the objective of the cooperative sector is to uplift the status of the economically marginalised sections of the society.
The court said Kedar, who was chairman at the time, and then general manager Ashok Choudhary were entrusted to invest the funds in the manner prescribed by the law but they committed breach of trust.
Such criminal breach of trust is a serious offence, the judge said in her order.
(With PTI inputs)
