A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Thursday discharged NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) MLA Rohit Pawar, Congress leader and former minister Ranjeet Deshmukh, along with several other political figures, in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The case dates back to 2015, when activist Surendra Mohan Arora filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Bombay High Court, alleging large-scale corruption in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank. The petition claimed that public funds were siphoned off through irregularities and criminal misconduct by bank officials and associated entities.
In 2019, the High Court examined the allegations and directed the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to register a First Information Report (FIR). Following this, a case was registered at MRA Marg Police Station and investigated by the EOW. The ED subsequently initiated a parallel probe by filing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against several politicians and their associates.
The EOW later filed a closure report, which was opposed by complainants, including Arora and activist Anna Hazare, as well as the ED. However, the special court rejected the protest petitions and accepted the closure report in February this year.
Counsel for Rohit Pawar, advocates Pranjal Agarwal and Kushal Mor, then sought his discharge from the ED case, arguing that proceedings under the PMLA cannot continue without a “predicate offence” — the underlying scheduled offence.
Opposing the plea, Special Public Prosecutor Sunil Gonzalves argued that the ED had gathered additional evidence. However, Special Judge Mahesh Jadhav ruled in favour of the applicants, holding that the ED case could not survive in the absence of a subsisting predicate offence.
“There being no predicate offence i.e. scheduled offence, the impugned ECIR registered by the Directorate of Enforcement will not survive….only if there is a predicate offence, that an ECIR will be maintainable. Thus, in the instant case, FIR stands closed by judicial process i.e. by closure report which amounts to an acquittal. Now the proceeding of ECIR do es not survive against Rohit Pawar. Hence, on these legal grounds, applicant is entitled to get discharge,” the court said.
– Ends
Published By:
Nitish Singh
Published On:
Apr 23, 2026 01:26 IST
