AFTER hearing the arguments of the defence and prosecution on the plea filed by former minister and senior Congress leader Sunil Chhatrapal Kedar challenging his conviction in the infamous Rs 150 crore Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB) scam, District Judge-12 and Additional Session Judge R S Patil (Bhosale) kept the order reserved till Wednesday. Last Friday, Special Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Judge Jyoti Pekhale-Purkar had convicted Kedar and five others in NDCCB scam cases and awarded five years rigorous imprisonment to them with a fine of Rs 10 lakh each. Besides Kedar, other convicts were Ashok Namdeo Chaudhari (Nagpur), former NDCCB General Manager, Ketan Kantilal Seth (Mumbai), stock broker, Amit Sitapati Verma (Ahmedabad), Subodh Chandadayal Bhandari and Nandkishor Shankarkal Trivedi (both from Mumbai).

 

During the arguments on Kedar’s plea, defence counsel Adv Devendra Chauhan urged the sessions court to grant stay on the conviction, suspension of the sentence and bail to his client as he was not at all involved in any financial illegality. The conviction can be stayed as there was no culpability, he added. Citing examples of the cases related to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, Adv Chauhan said that they were convicted but given relief by the apex court. With the Supreme Court’s judgement, he said, Gandhi’s membership of Lok Sabha was restored and even Siddhu, too, got relief with restoration of his membership of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. Similar was the case with Kedar, he said and added, his client was not at all involved in the matter as no amount was transferred to his bank accounts. Adv Chauhan stated that Kedar and bank officials themselves had lodged an FIR with the Ganeshpeth police station, stating that Home Trade Securities, Giltedge Management and others had cheated the bank. Later, he was falsely implicated after a counter complaint was lodged by Cooperative Department in April 2002, he added.

 

Strongly objecting to any such relief to Kedar, District Government Pleaders Adv Nitin Telgote (Nagpur) and Adv Ajay Misar (Nashik) pointed out that there was documentary evidence which reflects that he was involved in the crime. Moreover, he was responsible as he was the Chairman of the NDCCB when the scam took place more than two decades ago, they added. Countering the defence, Adv Misar and Adv Telgote pointed out that there were no extraordinary circumstances in the matter to give relief to the convicts. Adv Telgote said that only Supreme Court and High Courts can stay convictions and not the lower court. After hearing both sides, the sessions court reserved its judgement till Wednesday. Kedar, who was MLA from Saoner, was disqualified from the State Legislative Assembly following his conviction by the special court on December 22.