Latur sessions court gives reprieve to BJP’s Archana Patil, 70 others in bank loan case

Latur: A sessions court in Maharashtra’s Latur district has stayed a lower court’s order directing the registration of an FIR against BJP leader Archana Patil and 70 others in an alleged bank fraud case, an official said on Sunday.

However, the Udgir rural police claimed that the sessions court’s order reached them on Saturday evening and that they had registered an FIR against the accused in the afternoon.

The FIR will now remain suspended, said senior inspector Rajkumar Pujari of Udgir rural police station.

Archana Patil, daughter-in-law of Congress veteran Shivraj Patil, and 70 others are accused of fraudulently availing bank loans of about Rs 10 crore by misusing PAN and Aadhaar of the employees of Life Care hospital in Udgir between 2014 and 2019.

After receiving a complaint, police had approached a local court, which recently directed them to register a case under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), said Pujari. This order was subsequently stayed by the sessions court.

One of the accused termed the registration of FIR a violation of the session court’s order.