PANKAJ SANTOSH PAWARversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANOTHER

2026:BHC-AUG:2440



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                                                                           2009.25ABA

                          IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                     BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                         ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION NO. 2009 OF 2025

                    Pankaj Santosh Pawar,
                    Age : 29 years, Occu. Service,
                    R/o. Tembhi Tanda, Taluka Kinwat,
                    District Nanded.                              .. APPLICANT
                                                                 (Orig. Accused)
                              VERSUS

                    1]       The State of Maharashtra
                             through Bhokar Police Station,
                             District Nanded.

                    2]       The Superintendent of Police,
                             Nanded.                               .. RESPONDENTS

                                                   ...
                                Advocate for the applicant : Mr.R.B.Ade
                               APP for Respondent-State : Mrs.P.J.Bharad
                                                   …

                                               CORAM : MEHROZ K. PATHAN, J.
                                               DATE        : 13.01.2026

                    P.C. :


                    1]            Heard the learned counsel for the applicant and

                    the learned APP for the respondent-State.


                    2]            The applicant has filed present application

                    seeking     anticipatory   bail   in    connection    with   Crime
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No.495/2025, dated 15.10.2025, registered with Bhokar

Police Station, Dist. Nanded, for the offence punishable

under Section 409, 420 r/w. 34 of the IPC.


3]         The case of the prosecution is that the Cluster

Head HDFC Bank has lodged the first information report

alleging that he was working as Cluster Head for "Bachat

Gat" and under him, there are 8 branches. Out of that, he

alongwith the Manager Nandkishor Nevale looked after the

affairs of the HDFC Bank, Bhokar. Prior to this one Dashrat

Gaikwad and Pankaj Pawar i.e. present applicant was Sales

Officer "Mahila Bachat Gat". Kunal Rathod, Officer of Bank

was assigned with work for formation of "Mahila Bachat

Gat" and sanction loan applications of "Mahila Bachat Gat".

One Dayanand Godbole was the Officer of the Bank, who

was assigned with duties to check the members of "Mahila

Bachat Gat" and give information about loan. The cashier

Sachin Kamble was assigned with duties to pay or credit the

cash of loan to the members of "Mahila Bachat Gat". After

formation of Gat, one ATM card is issued by the President
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for withdrawal of amount, presence of the President and

Secretary is required and repayment of loan can be done by

member. Some complaints are received by the bank

regarding "Mahila Bachat Gat", hence, the informant and his

companion visited the Gat and after enquiry, it is noticed

that the misappropriation is done in 10 "Mahila Bachat Gat"

to the tune of Rs. 30,86,260/-.


4]          The allegation is preparation of Bogus Members

in Ramabai Bachat Gat and disbursement of loan amount to

the present applicant-Pankaj Pawar by Sachin Kamble

without presence of members of Bachat Gat. In other Gat

also, the allegations are that without presence of members

of Bachat Gat, the amount is withdrawn and paid by the

Sachin Kamble to the present applicant - Pankaj Pawar and

the entire amount is not received by the Bachat Gat. One

member has refused for loan still her file is processed and

amount is handed over to Dayanand Godbole by the

cashier. The amount is accepted by the present applicant -

Pankaj Pawar for depositing in the loan account but it is not
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deposited in the bank by the present applicant.


            Hence, the present applicant is responsible for

preparation of Bogus Members as well as withdrawal of

amount from the account of "Mahila Bachat Gat" and after

accepting EMI amount from the members of "Mahila Bachat

Gat", the same is not deposited in their accounts. The

Officer, Krushan Rathod, is responsible for sanctioning the

loan without verifying the details. Dayanand Godbole is

responsible for giving permission to withdraw the amount

behind back of the members and KYC verification is also not

done.   Cashier    Sachin    Kamble    is   responsible     for

disbursement of the amount without verifying the members

and without their presence. Thus, the complainant has

prayed for appropriate action to be taken against the

accused persons.


5]          The    learned   counsel   Mr.R.B.Ade     for   the

applicant submits that the applicant was appointed as Sales

Officer in HDFC Bank, Bhokar on 01.03.2021 and tendered

his resignation on 12.04.2024. The applicant has worked
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sincerely as per the direction of Manager and other Officers

of the Bank. The duty of the applicant is to collect the

documents and submit the information online to the

Manager. The applicant is alleged to have prepared

inducted bogus member in woman self help group i.e.

Mahila Bachat Gat and disbursed the amount in the account

of the Mahila Bachat Gats. There were so many cheques

and balances in the Bank and the applicant alone could not

have committed huge fraud as alleged against the present

applicant. The entire team of the Bank knew about

inductment of the self help group members by the applicant

and thereafter sanctioned loan in the name of newly

inducted members of the self help group. The allegations

are falsely levelled against the present applicant to save

high rank Officer of the Bank. The applicant is not having

criminal antecedents and the applicant is ready to abide by

any conditions that may be imposed by this Court. Hence,

the applicant may be released on anticipatory bail.


6]          As against this, the learned APP Mrs.Bharad
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strongly opposes the present application on the ground that

Sachin Kamble was working as Cashier in the HDFC Bank

where the Mahila Bachat Gat i.e. Woman Self Help Group

accounts were maintained. Sachin Kamble and other co-

accused had fraudulently shown sanction of loan to the

proxy members of the Bhachat Gat by inducting them

without consent of the Mahila Bachat Gat and thereby

misappropriated the fund of Bachat Gat for wrongful gain to

themselves. The details of all Mahila Bachat Gat in respect

of the amount siphoned of by the applicant-Pankaj Pawar

with the assistance of the co-accused is given in the first

information report after conducting due enquiry by the

Bank Officials, applicant Pankaj Pawar is held responsible

for committing fraud upon the Mahila Bachat Gat Members,

who were sanctioned loan by the said Bank. The statement

recorded during the course of investigation by the

Investigating Officer substantiates allegations made in the

FIR. The Cluster Head of the HDFC Bank had specifically

stated the role of the Sachin Kamble, who was working as

Centillion Teller and had not followed the Bank process and
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handed over the disbursement of the huge amount of loan

of Rs.27,14,000/- to the present applicant i.e. Sales Officer,

Pankaj Pawar, instead of handing over the loan amount to

the Group members, who had availed the loans from the

Bank. The statement of the Anand Kadtan is also recorded

wherein he has given details of at least 10 Mahila Bachat

Gats, which were cheated of their money out of the loan

sanctioned by the Bank in the name of the said Mahila

Bachat Gat. The statement further reveals the role of Sachin

Kamble, who was entrusted responsibility of verifying the

details of the member of the Mahila Bachat Gat and hand

over the amount to them, Sachin Kamble has fraudulently

handed over the amount to the Sales Officer, Pankaj Pawar

i.e. present applicant.


7]          The statement of Poornima Gautam Gaikwad,

who is the one of the member of Ramabai Mahila Bachat

Gat, also speaks about the role of Sachin Kamble, who had

handed over the amount of Rs.3,00,000/- to the present

applicant - Pankaj Pawar out of the amount sanctioned in
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the name of Chhaya Raju Sarpate, Pranita Sarpate, Pallavi

Parade and Aruna Pawade, who were bogus members,

inducted in the Ramabai Mahila Bachat Gat. Applicant-

Pankaj along with other co-accused got Rs.7,24,858/-

sanctioned in the name of the aforesaid four bogus

members and paid Rs.4 lacs to the aforesaid members

whereas remaining amount of Rs.3 lacs was handed over by

Sachin Kamble to the present applicant. Likewise, there are

other statements of the members of Kedarnath Mahila

Bachat Gat, Pragati Mahila Bachat Gat, Nari Shakti Mahila

Bachat Gat and Shital Balaji Mahila Bachat Gat levelling

identical allegations of sanction of huge amounts of loan in

the name of bogus members inducted in the aforesaid

Mahila Bachat Gats and handing over them some amounts

whereas remaining amount has been handed over by the

Cashier, Sachin Kamble to the Sales Officer, Pankaj Pawar

i.e. the present applicant. The Vigilance Cell report on

siphoning of EMI and Full / Partial SHG/JLG loan amount

also specifies the role of the present applicant - Pankaj

Pawar. Thus, the role of the present applicant is clearly
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made out from the aforesaid statements, and therefore,

custodial interrogation of the present applicant is necessary.


8]          I have gone through the allegations made in the

first information report and have perused the investigation

made available by the learned APP. Perusal of the

investigation papers show that the Cluster Head of the

HDFC Bank, Nanded had issued a communication on 7 th

August, 2024 to the Police Inspector, Bhokar, Dist. Nanded

thereby informing about misappropriation and wrongful

disbursement of loan amount to the tune of Rs.29,74,000/-,

pertaining to 7 SHG / JLG groups with connivance of one

Dayanand Godbole and Centillion Solutions Services Pvt.

Ltd. Teller Sachin Kamble as he had handed over the said

amount to the Sales Officer, Pankaj Pawar i.e. present

applicant, instead of giving it to the borrowers. It is further

communicated by the Cluster Head that the Sales Officer

i.e. present applicant are not authorized to collect EMI

amount in cash or by other means from the Group

member / Borrowers, even though the present applicant -
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Sales Officer, Pankaj Pawar had collected money from

group members and failed to deposit the collected amount

in respective borrowers’ loan accounts. It was further

revealed that the Transaction Assistant Dayanand Godbole

had handed over the amount of Rs.2,60,000/- of 03 groups

to the present applicant even though the members of the

Self Help Group was not present at the time of

disbursement. It was also communicated that Centillion

Teller Sachin Kamble has also wrongfully disbursed the

huge amount of Rs.27,14,000/- to the present applicant,

instead of the group members, who had availed SHG /JLG

loan from the Bank. The statement of the Anand Suryakant

Kadtan, Cluster Head of HDFC Bank further shows the

involvement of Sachin Kamble in handing over the huge

amount to the present applicant. The statements of the

Poornima Gautam Gaikwad, Shakuntalabai Ratan Tarfe,

Vijayabai Sahebrao Tarfe, Shobha Maroti Khupse and

Chandabai Kailas Andhare and the various other members

of the Self Help Group and Shital Penshanwar and other

members of the Self Help Group show that the bogus
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members were inducted in the Self Help Group and the

huge amounts were sanctioned as loans to the Self Help

Groups. The certain amounts out of the sanction loan

amount were given to the members of the Self Help Group

whereas the huge amount out of the sanction amount was

handed over by Sachin Kamble, who was working as

Centillion Teller in the Bank to the present applicant. The

vigilance report submitted by the HDFC Bank which also

forms part of the investigation papers shows the role of

Sachin Kamble, who had violated the bank procedure by

allowing the present applicant i.e. Sales Officer, Pankaj

Pawar to use the group ATM card and PIN on MATM i.e. in

the case of 3 SHG and 1 JLG accounts during disbursement,

that too, in the absence of entire group members /

authorised signatories, but also failed to report the issue

with his seniors.


9]          The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the judgment in

the case of Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy v. Central Bureau of

Investigation, (2013) 7 SCC 439 and in the case of
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Tarunkumar      Vs.     Assistant       Director       Directorate     of

Enforcement, 2023 NSC 1006, was pleased to hold that the

economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be

visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. The

economic offences having deep-rooted conspiracies and

involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed

seriously and considered as a grave offences affecting the

economy of the country as a whole and thereby posing

serious threat to the financial health of the country.


10]         The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of

Nimmagadda Prasad vs C.B.I., Hyderabad, (2013) 7 SCC

466, has held as under :

               23. Unfortunately, in the last few years, the country
               has been seeing an alarming rise in white-collar
               crimes, which has affected the fibre of the country's
               economic structure. Incontrovertibly, economic
               offences have serious repercussions on the
               development of the country as a whole. In State of
               Gujarat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal [(1987) 2 SCC
               364 : 1987 SCC (Cri) 364] this Court, while
               considering a request of the prosecution for
               adducing additional evidence, inter alia, observed
               as under:
               "5. ... The entire community is aggrieved if the
               economic offenders who ruin the economy of the
               State are not brought to book. A murder may be
               committed in the heat of moment upon passions
               being aroused. An economic offence is committed
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                 with cool calculation and deliberate design with an
                 eye on personal profit regardless of the
                 consequence to the community. A disregard for the
                 interest of the community can be manifested only at
                 the cost of forfeiting the trust and faith of the
                 community in the system to administer justice in an
                 even-handed manner without fear of criticism from
                 the quarters which view white-collar crimes with a
                 permissive eye unmindful of the damage done to
                 the national economy and national interest."



11]         The role of the present applicant has evolved as

main accused from the statements of Poornima Gautam

Gaikwad, Shakuntalabai Ratan Tarfe, Vijayabai Sahebrao

Tarfe, Shobha Maroti Khupse and Chandabai Kailas

Andhare. The applicant is alleged to have also obtained

amounts for depositing in the loan accounts of the self help

groups and has failed to deposit the said amount. The

applicant is also seen in the CCTV Footage to have accepted

huge amount of loan sanctioned in the name of the Self

Help Groups from the co-accused-Sachin Kamble, who was

working as Cashier.


12]         Thus, there is ample material collected by the

Investigating Officer to show the involvement of the present

applicant   in    the     present        crime.   Thus,      taking    into
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consideration of gravity of the offence, I am not inclined to

exercise discretion to protect the present applicant. The

investigation is complex in nature, as such, the custodial

interrogation of the applicant would be necessary. Hence

the present application is hereby rejected.


                                   [MEHROZ K. PATHAN]
                                         JUDGE
DDC