Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
In the Mangalmurti co-operative credit society case, the chairman of the institution, Ratnakar Joshi, was granted anticipatory bail by justice Neeraj P. Dhote of the Bombay High Court’s Aurangabad bench on November 3, 2025.
What was the complaint?
A case had been registered at the Cidco police station in connection with this matter. According to the complaint, the main accused had allegedly promised the complainant a job as a Talathi (revenue officer) in exchange for money. On this assurance, the complainant deposited Rs 50 lakh in the society as a joint fixed deposit (FD). Later, it was alleged that Rs 40 lakh out of this amount was withdrawn by the accused, even though the promised job was never provided.
In defense, the applicant Ratnakar Joshi stated that he had not cheated the complainant in any manner. He had only discharged his official duties as the chairman of the credit society, and the FD in question was part of the society’s regular business transactions. Joshi had also submitted all documents and information sought by the police in a timely manner and had fully cooperated with the investigation. Hence, there was no need for his arrest, argued advocate Dr. Anagha Pedgaonkar before the court.
The court observed that there was no direct evidence linking Ratnakar Joshi to the core criminal act and noted that he had cooperated during the investigation. Therefore, the court held that Joshi was entitled to protection from arrest and granted him anticipatory bail.