Mumbai: The Bombay high court has granted an anticipatory bail to the former director of the Vimukta Jatis And Nomadic Tribes (VJNT) Development Corporation (Limited) after he pleaded innocence in a fraud case registered against him by the state.

The HC accepted his submissions that he was being framed as he had unearthed a scam in the department wherein crores of rupees had been disbursed as loans to fictitious persons by previous officers who had in fact siphoned off the amounts themselves in connivance with some individuals.

While hearing the anticipatory bail application (ABA) of Mr Ramesh Bansod, justice A.S. Gadkari was informed on behalf of Mr Bansod that while he was holding the post of managing director of the corporation he had initiated enquiries into the issue of non-recovery, when it was revealed that several beneficiaries were fictitious and loan was siphoned off by the officers. Police cases were registered against three of the corporation officials who were alleged to be involved in the scam.

The advocates further added that, after he got the suspension stayed, FIR’s were registered against him for transferring funds from the corporation’s accounts to district office accounts for paying salaries and loan disbursement, hence the ABA.

The state represented by additional public prosecutor R M Pethe said that the investigating officer was not present to give instructions. After hearing both sides, the court allowed the application and posted the matter for January 29, 2018.