Andaman Coop Bank scam: Ex-Cong MP Kuldeep Sharma arrested

Port Blair, Jul 18 (PTI) The CID on Friday arrested former Congress MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma in connection with the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank Ltd (ANSCBL) loan irregularities case, police said.

Sharma, who formerly served as the chairman of ANSCBL, was arrested from a private hospital in Port Blair where he was admitted due to health issues.

"Sharma was admitted to Dr Ritika's Diagnostic Solutions Multi-Speciality Hospital with some health issues. In the morning, a team of officers went to the private hospital and arrested him," a senior police officer said, adding further legal steps will be determined by the court.

"If necessary, a medical board will reassess his health condition," he said.

Congress Andaman and Nicobar Islands in charge Manickam Tagore alleged that the arrest of Sharma in the ANSCBL scam is politically motivated to defame the Congress by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Speaking to PTI, Tagore, who is also a Congress MP, said, "Today, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands police arrested former ANPCC president and ex MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma. It is unfortunate that the BJP leadership and RSS continues to harass Congress leadership." "They know that they will not be able to fight with us politically, that is why they are using police to harass our leadership. They are misusing the police and other agencies. We will fight it out, and we will stand with Kuldeep ji. He is a strong man, and we firmly believe that he will fight it out. We all stand with Kuldeep ji in this battle. All Congress family stands with him in this difficult time," he said.

On May 15, an FIR was lodged against Sharma in connection with the same irregularities.

During investigations, police detected money trails leading to the bank accounts of a driver (an employee of one of the accused in the bank loan scam), a tea stall owner at Chouldari here, and a mechanic.

Apart from Sharma, others named in the FIR include the cooperative bank’s former chairman, board members and directors/officials of the bank and several beneficiaries.

There are allegations that the bank's managing committee overlooked the recommendations of the loan screening committee and ignored the CIBIL report and mandatory documents while sanctioning loans, a police source said.

Police had received a complaint from the deputy registrar of the cooperative societies (HQ), which alleged gross irregularities in sanctioning loans to various people by the lender.

Since June 25, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the scam, including ANSCBL managing director K Murugan, bank employee Kalaivanan, Bablu Halder (director of Andaman Mormon Infrastructure Private Limited), Tarun Mondal (director Blair Enterprises Private Limited), Ajay Minz (director Andaman Treepie Adventure Private Limited), K Subramanian ( ANSCBL director) and M Sajid (Owner of M/s Andaman Escapades). PTI SN MNB SN RG