FIR filed against Vikhe Patil in bogus loan waiver case
FIR has been registered against cabinet minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 53 others in connection with alleged loan waiver fraud amounting to ₹8.86 crore
Pune: A first information report (FIR) has been registered against senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Maharashtra cabinet minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 53 others in connection with an alleged loan waiver fraud amounting to approximately ₹8.86 crore. Loni-Rahata Police Station in Ahilyanagar district filed the case on April 28 following a court directive.
The FIR names senior bank officials, directors of the Padmashri Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil Cooperative Sugar Factory — an entity linked to Vikhe Patil— and others. Vikhe Patil has been named as accused number 19 in the FIR.
The complaint accuses them of financial misappropriation and defrauding the government by misusing a loan waiver scheme meant for farmers.
“The offence has been registered under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the local court under Section 156 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) directed the Ahilyanagar police to file an offence and investigate the matter,” said a senior police officer. Police have invoked Sections 420, 415, 464, 465, 467, 471, 34, and 120 (b) of IPC in the case.
According to the FIR, between 2004 and 2006, the factory’s board of directors allegedly prepared forged documents in the names of member-farmers to obtain “basal dose” loans. Basal doses of fertilisers are needed for plantation. Of the total sum, ₹3.11 crore was sanctioned by the Union Bank and ₹5.74 crore by the Bank of India. The money, however, was never disbursed to the farmers but was allegedly siphoned off by factory officials in collusion with bank officers.
In 2007, the accused allegedly took advantage of a government loan waiver scheme by submitting these fake loans as genuine, thereby securing unlawful debt relief and causing a substantial loss to the exchequer.
The FIR is based on a complaint by Balasaheb Kerunath Vikhe, a 66-year-old farmer and long-time member of the cooperative. He claimed that the loans were sanctioned in farmers’ names without their knowledge or consent, and that the fraud was executed through coordinated efforts between factory management and bank staff.
The accused have been booked under charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and misuse of government schemes. Police said all those named in the FIR, including minister Vikhe Patil, will be investigated as per legal procedure.
Police are expected to record statements and examine records from the cooperative factory and the two banks involved.
