RAIPUR: On Friday, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) intensified its efforts in two long-standing corruption cases. They submitted a 15,000-page chargesheet concerning a nearly 30-year-old cooperative housing loan fraud, which has escalated into a Rs 104-crore bad debt. Additionally, they apprehended a retired official from the Chhattisgarh State Seeds and Agricultural Development Corporation in a case involving disproportionate assets.
In the housing loan fraud case, charges were filed in a special Prevention of Corruption Act court against Thawardas Madhwani, the former chairman of Adhunik Grih Nirman Cooperative Society in Raipur, Basant Kumar Sahu, the former housing supervisor of the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Housing Federation, and Pradeep Kumar Nikhra, the then-manager. An FIR was originally registered in 2000.
According to the EOW, from 1995 to 1998, the accused conspired to obtain Rs 1 lakh each in housing loans for 186 fictitious beneficiaries under a government housing scheme, fraudulently acquiring a total of Rs 1.86 crore.
Investigations revealed that the loan records claimed houses were constructed in Raipura and Pandri Kapa; however, verification showed neither houses nor beneficiaries existed at those addresses. The authorities alleged that forged documents, fabricated utilization certificates, and fake completion certificates were utilized to gain loan approvals before diverting the funds.
The agency noted that the original loan amount, plus accrued interest, had ballooned to Rs 104 crore by December 31, 2025, now classified as unrecoverable bad debt of the state cooperative housing federation.
In an unrelated case, the EOW apprehended Rajendra Singh Kshatriya (63), a retired seed manager of the Chhattisgarh State Seeds and Agricultural Development Corporation, associated with a disproportionate assets case registered in 2020.
The agency claimed that during the review period, Kshatriya earned Rs 6 crore from legitimate sources but incurred expenses exceeding Rs 11.28 crore, resulting in unexplained assets and expenditures amounting to Rs 5.28 crore—87.96% higher than his known income.
Following his arrest, Kshatriya was presented before a special court in Baikunthpur and remanded to judicial custody, where he is currently held in the district jail.
The EOW stressed that both cases underline its commitment to speeding up investigations into long-pending corruption cases and bringing them before the courts when sufficient evidence has been amassed.
