Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Mankape family, notorious for their involvement in multiple financial scams in the Aadarsh credit society scam, has been arrested by the police for the fifth time from Harsul jail on Friday. Ambadas Mankape, his son Sunil, daughter-in-law Sunanda, and former director Namdev Kachkure are accused of embezzling crores of rupees from Adarsh Mahila Nagari Sahakari Bank.
This latest arrest comes after a case was registered in December 2023 following an audit of the bank as directed by the RBI. The audit uncovered irregularities for the period between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023. This marks the third case against the Mankape family in connection with the bank's finances.
The investigation revealed that the family, along with joint-manager Namdev Kachkure, allegedly took advantage of their positions to approve unsecured loans worth lakhs of rupees in favor of several businesses linked to them. These loans lacked proper documentation and were not repaid, causing significant financial losses to the bank.
The police are currently detaining the Mankape family until March 3 for further investigation. Inspector Sambhaji Pawar suspects that the scam may extend beyond the period covered by the recent audit and has initiated an independent audit of the bank's activities between 2017 and 2022. He anticipates that the total scam amount may be significantly higher than currently estimated.
Previous arrests and ongoing investigation
This is not the first time the Mankape family has faced legal trouble. In July 2023, they were arrested for a similar scam involving Aadarsh credit cooperative society, where 12 accused remain in jail. Additionally, cases have been registered against them related to financial irregularities at Yashaswini Sanstha.