RCS Office Allows Prosecution in Delhi Bank Fraud Case
The Delhi Assembly Petitions Committee, headed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, has observed that the bank is involved in serious financial irregularities.
By Rakesh Raman
The Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) of the Delhi Government has granted sanction to prosecute the CEO of Delhi Nagrik Sahkari Bank in a bank fraud case.
The RCS inspection, according to reports, found that as the bank’s audit team head DNSB CEO Jitender Gupta caused significant loss to the bank in the form of ballooning non-performing assets (NPAs).
The RCS – which is supposed to supervise the cooperative bank’s affairs – today (October 23) informed a Delhi Assembly committee that the bank’s NPAs have risen to 38%. Therefore, RCS Virendra Kumar had granted sanction of prosecution under section 121(2) of the DCS Act, 2003 on September 24.
However, Gupta moved the Delhi Financial Commissioner (FC) court headed by Rinku Dhugga (IAS) and secured a stay on the sanction granted by RCS, which has filed an application against the stay order.
The Delhi Assembly Petitions Committee, headed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, observed today (October 23) that the bank, which has deposits of around Rs. 560 crore, is involved in serious financial irregularities. Bharadwaj said that bank CEO Gupta had joined the bank as a clerk in 1984 and taken over as CEO in January 2018 despite adverse reports against him.
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The reports add that the key allegations include sanction of loans based on forged tax returns and fake property papers, and purchases of gifts using bank money. Based on a complaint by a whistleblower, inquiries focused on 717 cases of loans, of which 72 were investigated. It was found that 59 of these cases were instances of fraud. The alleged frauds took place during the period between 2011-14, when Gupta headed the audit team.
Subsequently, 54 FIRs were filed but the prosecution could hardly proceed. Earlier, in a detailed report issued in this case by the Assembly Committee on Petitions, it was found that the frauds at the bank happened in connivance with the top officials of RCS, which is among the most corrupt departments of India.
The report found that a former Registrar (RCS) J.B. Singh and his predecessor Shurbir Singh ignored even Delhi High Court orders to allow fraud and corruption to happen at the Delhi Nagrik Sehkari Bank. They have been the target of the Assembly Committee probe for the alleged Rs. 100-crore scam in the bank. Last year, the Committee was considering the jail term for these RCS officials.
The Committee had urged the Delhi Chief Secretary to initiate criminal proceedings against J.B. Singh and Shurbir Singh for their connivance in the corruption case.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications on different subjects.
