Pandey faced hurdles all the way

Officials feel specific allegations made by Pandey and his communication to Director General of Police A S Samra called for a probe by a high-level committee. “Only an independent enquiry will reveal the reasons behind the delay in shoe scam probe and also Ghandat’s arrest,” the official pointed out.

Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank fraud and Ghandat’s involvement in it are still clouded in mystery. After the cooperation department detected the irregularities in the purchase of the bank premises, it recommended to the crime branch to take necessary action. Subsequently, following Munde’s directives, crime branch registered offences under Section 420 (cheating) against Ghandat and the entire board of directors.

Ghandat then moved the sessions court as well as high court for anticipatory bail. The high court asked Pandey to give 72 hours’ notice before arresting Ghandat. Pandey immediately served a notice on Ghandat. However, the arrest never came about – why, nobody knows.

“This `why’ needs to be probed at a higher level since Pandey is not the kind of officer who will let an accused escape. It appears that there was pressure on Pandey from somebody in the government,” the official remarked.Soon after he was transferred, Pandey allegedly wrote in the official register that he was unable to arrest Ghandhat owing to pressure from Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde.

Pandey was investigating five important cases of financial irregularities, including the Rs 1,500-crore shoe scandal and the Rs 40-crore fraud at Dadar Janata Cooperative Bank.

In the Dadar Janata Cooperative Bank scandal also Pandey was not permitted to arrest the main accused.

After an offence was registered, Pandey sought the permission of the government to arrest the main accused. Till today, none of the office-bearers in the said case have been arrested.

The otherwise low-profile crime branch came into lime light after it registered offences in the Rs 1,500 crore shoe scandal following a report from the cooperation department. “Though credit is being given to Pandey for unearthing it, it was originally investigated by a senior official in the cooperation department,” the official said.

Investigations conducted by the joint registrar’s office had revealed that the exponential growth of the cooperative societies was shocking and suspicious. “In a span of five years, the membership of these four societies increased from 15 to 15,000, while the turn over increased from Rs 15,000 to Rs 15 crore,” the official pointed out.

The Cooperation Department then submitted an interim report to the Joint Commissioner of Police in March 96 with recommendations that the affairs of all the societies should be probed at a higher level. Significantly, while the cooperation department continued its investigations against the erring cooperative societies, there was no action on the interim report till September 10, when Pandey appeared on the scene.

Pandey took a lead and registered First Information Report against owners of the leading shoe companies. When the file was submitted to the then commissioner, Ram Deo Tyagi, he recommended that the scandal should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. However, Munde rejected the proposal, saying the Crime Branch was competent to tackle the fraud.