The Madhya Pradesh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered an FIR against four private companies, their partners and three Bank of Baroda officials in connection with an alleged Rs 9.71-crore fraud involving loans sanctioned for farmers to construct polyhouses under the National Horticulture Mission.
According to the EOW, loans totalling Rs 7.81 crore were sanctioned and disbursed to 33 farmers through the Bank of Baroda's Khargone branch, even though the polyhouses were either partially constructed or never built. The agency alleged that the companies used the farmers' names and land documents to obtain the loans and subsequently siphoned off the funds using forged documents.
The EOW said the farmers whose names were used in the loan applications were themselves allegedly deceived. According to the agency, the companies gained their trust, collected their land documents and obtained loans in their names, leaving them liable for loans they were allegedly unaware had been misused.
Four firms have been named in the FIR. Raj Eco Farms and its partners Rajendra Singh Tanwar and Nitin Gavshinde are among those booked. AVI Agritech Solutions Pvt Ltd, which was contracted to construct five polyhouses, allegedly built only three but submitted a work completion certificate claiming that all five had been completed.
Another accused firm, Kisan Agro, operated by proprietor Narendra Pawar, was contracted to construct 20 polyhouses. The EOW alleged that none were built, but a forged completion certificate for all 20 was produced to facilitate payment through demand drafts.
The FIR also names Siransh Techno India Pvt Ltd of Indore and its director Saurabh Dubey. The EOW alleged that the company used a fake completion certificate to draw payment for eight polyhouses that were never constructed.
The agency said an examination of the 33 loan files revealed discrepancies in the dates of the purported completion certificates. In only three cases did the date on the certificate match the date on which the loan amount was disbursed.
In 12 cases, the completion certificates were dated before the loan amounts were disbursed, while in 16 cases, the certificates were dated even before the loans had been sanctioned. The EOW said the discrepancies indicated that the certificates had been fabricated to facilitate the release of the loan amounts rather than being issued after the completion and verification of construction.
Three Bank of Baroda officials have also been named in the FIR — then chief branch manager K K Sarwate, then loan manager Shubham Sohni and another official, Chandrashekhar Rathore. They have been accused of approving and disbursing the loans without verifying whether the polyhouses had been constructed and of clearing the applications despite discrepancies in the supporting documents.
The EOW investigation also uncovered a separate alleged fraud involving the same Bank of Baroda branch.
According to the agency, one hectare of land belonging to farmer Narayan Singh of Bhilgaon village in Kasrawad tehsil had already been mortgaged with the bank against an existing polyhouse loan in account number 06/653.
The EOW alleged that the same land was subsequently shown as free of encumbrances and used to secure a fresh cash-credit loan of Rs 1.9 crore without the bank's consent or a no-objection certificate. The loan was sanctioned on December 7, 2015, by then chief branch manager Sarwate, after which the land was allegedly re-mortgaged to the bank.
According to the EOW, Narayan Singh, directors and partners of one of the firms and others, including Sarwate, conspired to manipulate the bank's collateral records to facilitate the second loan, causing an additional alleged loss of Rs 1.9 crore to the bank.
The EOW has put the combined alleged loss from the two transactions at Rs 9,70,85,000, comprising Rs 7,80,85,000 in the alleged polyhouse loan fraud and Rs 1,90,00,000 in the alleged fraudulent re-mortgaging of the land.
