A case has been registered with the MRA Marg police against the leader of opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council (MLC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pravin Darekar in connection with an alleged bank fraud case, said the complainant and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Dhananjay Shinde.

"We have filed a complaint with the Mumbai police on January 3. The MRA Marg police recorded my statement and registered a case against him now. We have also approached the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police for investigation,” Shinde said on Tuesday.

"Criminal action against Maharashtra legislative council LoP Pravin Darekar started (in connection with alleged bank fraud). He was supposed to be from the labour federation but he actually came from the urban bank category... won't be scared, we'll fight," ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told ANI.

Shinde alleged that Darekar neither gets any contract of labour supply nor does he work as a labourer, but he has been contesting for the post of director at the Mumbai Bank for 20 years. “There was fraud in the Mumbai Bank during his tenure and the cooperative department of the state government also found material indicating fraud during an audit,” Shinde alleged in his statement.

“He showed his property value of more than ₹2 crore. Darekar is an MLC from 2016 till date and the document which was submitted showed he is into private business. He is earning 2.5 lakh including all government facilities as a monthly salary,” Shinde has alleged.

A criminal case has been registered against Darekar under sections of 200 (using as true such declaration knowing it to be false), 420 (cheating) 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) 120b (criminal conspiracy) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Image courtesy: ANI