Quick Summary: Pravin Dashrath Sawnt's request to cancel a police report related to a loan scam was rejected by the Bombay High Court. The court found enough evidence to keep investigating him and others involved.
Pravin Dashrath Sawnt, who used to be a Credit Manager at Motilal Oswal Home Finance Ltd, asked the court to cancel a police report accusing him of cheating. The case was looked at by Judges Ravindra V. Ghuge and Gautam A. Ankhad. The State of Maharashtra and Vikas Sitaram Bankar, a legal manager at the finance company, were the other parties involved.
In 2015, a loan was given to Narsingh Babanrao Jadhav and Kalpana Narsingh Jadhav for a property in Andheri East. But the property was a slum, which shouldn't have qualified for a housing loan. The borrowers didn't pay back the loan and sold the property, which led to a complaint against Sawnt and others for approving this loan illegally.
Pravin Dashrath Sawnt was part of the loan approval process as the Credit Head. The police report says he misused his position to approve the loan of Rs. 10,39,885 along with two branch managers, Ajit Singh and Sudhir Memon. An internal investigation backed up these claims.
"The credit appraisal memo shows the Petitioner’s role in the loan approval process," said Judge Gautam A. Ankhad.
The court found the police report's claims serious enough to need more investigation. They said they couldn't decide if the claims were true at this point.
"What is required to be considered is the nature of accusations and allegations in the FIR," the judgment noted.
Sawnt's arguments, including referring to past court decisions, weren't strong enough to cancel the police report. The court decided that these issues should be resolved in a trial.
The request to cancel the police report was denied, and the temporary protection given to Sawnt was removed. The case will go to trial, where the claims will be looked at more closely.
