Credit society scam: IPS officer Bhagyashree Navtake booked for forgery

Pune: The Pune Police have registered a case on the charges of forgery and criminal conspiracy against IPS officer Bhagyashree Navtake who had headed the investigation into an alleged Rs 1,200 crore scam involving a credit cooperative society, an officer said on Wednesday.

The case was registered against Navtake, based on a CID report that flagged procedural lapses in the scam investigation, and other unidentified persons, on directions from the Maharashtra Home Department.

Navtake headed the Special Investigation Team as DCP (economic offence wing) in 2021-21 to probe cases related to the alleged scam involving Bhaichand Hirachand Raisoni Credit Society in Pune district.

"The CID (Crime Investigation Department) conducted a probe into the investigation related to the alleged Bhaichand Hirachand Raisoni (BHR) scam. The CID submitted a report detailing its observations and findings to the state home department," the city police officer said.

He said the state home department directed the Pune Police to register a case based on the CID report.

"Following the orders from the home department, an offence has been registered against Bhagyashree Navtake who headed the SIT formed to probe the cases filed in the BHR scam," the officer said.

He said the CID probe pointed out procedural lapses during the investigation of scam cases by Navtake.

Navtake was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120-B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy), 466 (Forgery of record of Court or of public register, etc), 474 (Possessing forged documents), and 201 (Causing the disappearance of evidence).

"Three different cases were registered under one crime in a single day, which is a procedural lapse and forgery. In two instances, the complainant was not even present when the cases were being registered. The complainant's signatures were found (on documents) even though he was not present while registering the FIRs," the police officer said.

Navtake is currently posted as the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) superintendent in Chandrapur.

The scam, dated 2015, involved the alleged cheating of a large number of people by promising attractive interest on fixed deposits.