Congress MLA Sunil Kedar disqualified from Maharashtra Assembly

Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra minister Sunil Kedar has been disqualified from the state legislative assembly following his conviction by a court for misappropriation of funds at the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB).A gazette order of the state legislature secretariat issued on Saturday said Mr Kedar stands disqualified as MLA from the date of his conviction on December 22 under provisions of Article 19 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India and Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.The order said Mr Kedar's constituency Saoner, located in Nagpur district, has become vacant from the date of his conviction.

Kedar, the five-time MLA, was convicted under Indian Penal Code Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating, 471 (whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention).The six convicts were also fined Rs 10 lakh each.

The case is over two decades old, and Kedar, chairman of the NDCCB when the scam surfaced in 2002, was the prime accused. It was alleged that during his tenure, companies from Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad purchased government bonds worth Rs125 crore using bank funds, which they failed to repay. The cooperative department auditor, taking into account the bank interest during the period, had pegged the value of the scam at ₹150 crore.