The case was registered by CBI in June 1993 against some employees of the Parisad Co-operative Bank Ltd and others under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act for cheating the bank to the tune of Rs 41.79 lakh.
The charges in the case were framed in 2002 and the prosecution had already led 34 witnesses while the defence had led 12 witnesses.
However, during the trial, a plea was raised by the accused that they were not public servants as the Parisad Cooperative Bank, which was registered with office of Registrar of The Cooperative Societies in 1985, is not aided by the government.
"I have carefully considered all the arguments raised before me by the senior prosecutor and all the defence counsel and have also gone through the record. There is no averment in the charge sheet whether Parisad Co-operative Bank was receiving or had ever received any financial aid from the central government or the state government or any cooperation or any authority or body owned or controlled by the government.
"Undoubtedly, Parisad Co-operative Bank was a private bank in which only the members of co-operative society can open their accounts or obtain loan etc according to its bye laws," Special CBI Judge V K Maheshwari said. More
