1 week Ago
The police custody of Servants of India Society (SIS) secretary, Milind Deshmukh, has been extended till April 11. Deshmukh was produced in the court of judicial magistrate first class (small causes), A A Pande, on Wednesday after his police custody ended. However, the Deccan police demanded that Deshmukh’s police custody be extended by five more days to investigate various other angles in this case.
After hearing both sides, Deshmukh’s police custody was extended till April 11. While demanding that Deshmukh’s police custody be extended, assistant public prosecutor (APP) Amar Nanaware submitted to the court: “It is necessary to conduct a joint investigation with the accused and the concerned individuals regarding how the accused diverted funds from the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics to the SIS in violation of University Grants Commission (UGC) rules. The involvement of the then vice-chancellor, registrar and accounts officer of the Gokhale Institute in this matter should be investigated.
It appears that an amount of ₹ 40 lakh was transferred to individuals like Dipak Totwali, Priya Thadani, etc. under the name of ‘signing charges’ for the purchase of land in Nagpur. The exact purpose of this amount needs to be thoroughly investigated with the accused.
During the investigation, it was found that large sums were transferred under the name of ‘campus maintenance expenses’ in the SIS’s ledger statements related to Gokhale Institute. The complainant has also raised a complaint about this in the supplementary statement. A detailed investigation is necessary regarding this.
” APP Nanaware further submitted: “The documents obtained in the investigation show that several amounts were repeatedly transferred from Gokhale Institute’s bank account to the SIS account. Since this indicates a large scale of misappropriation, it is essential to conduct a joint investigation with the concerned officials of Gokhale Institute during the relevant period. The arrested accused had previously manipulated the ownership of land in Mouje Shevlanwadi, taluka Haveli, district Pune, owned by the late justice Mahadev Govind Ranade Charity Trust for financial gain.
The accused created forged documents and submitted them to the Haveli tehsildar’s office to make fraudulent changes to the land records. A case has been registered against the accused at Deccan police station. Since the accused has been misusing his position to commit such offences, police custody interrogation is required in this case.
” While the defence opposed the demand for extension of Deshmukh’s police custody, the court extended Deshmukh’s custody by two days after hearing both sides. Earlier, Deccan police in-charge Girisha Nimbalkar, senior police inspector who is the investigating officer in this case, submitted the investigation report to the court in which the police states: “In connection with the investigation of the registered offence, correspondence was made with the GIPE and they provided the audit reports for the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24, along with the memorandum of association (MOA) with the UGC and the minutes of the board meetings. Details of all the bank accounts of GIPE and SIS have been obtained.
While the appointed auditors from the UGC and other members of the finance committee of GIPE have been investigated and their statements have been recorded. And in connection with the registered offence, necessary documents from the office of SIS have been seized after conducting a panchnama.” Whereas the complainant in this case, Vishal Bhimrao Gaikwad, serving as GIPE’s ‘officiating deputy registrar’ on April 8 gave a supplementary statement in this case to the Deccan police.
As per the supplementary statement: “An amount of ₹ 1,000,000 was transferred from the Gokhale Institute’s account to the account of SIS on March 1, 2024 in relation to the personal case of accused Milind Deshmukh, for the purpose of paying advocate’s fees for the reference of the late justice Ranade Charitable Trust. This transfer was carried out for personal gain, resulting in misappropriation. Additionally, the complainant has stated that other amounts were also transferred from the Gokhale Institute to SIS for lift maintenance and other expenses, which were misappropriated.
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