Father-son duo arrested in Rs 3,500 crore credit society fraud

A father-son duo has been arrested by the Pimpri Chinchwad police for their alleged role in a Rs 3,500 crore fraud case. This case is related to the Dnyanradha Multistate Co-operative Credit Society, located in the Beed district of Maharashtra.    

Yashwant Vasant Kulkarni, 55, and his son, Vaibhav Yashwant Kulkarni, 24 are the two accused in the case and both hail from Shinde Nagar in Beed. As per police, Yashwant Kulkarni and his son Vaibhav held the position of vice chairman and director respectively at the Dnyanradha Multistate Co-operative Credit Society, which is part of the Kute Group in Beed.

The arrest was made following a tip-off received by police havaldar Ganesh Girigosavi. A team from the crime branch of Pimpri Chinchwad police laid a trap and nabbed the duo at a shopping mall in Wakad.

The accused were involved in cheating almost 4.5 lakh depositors from 52 branches of the credit society, promised high returns on fixed deposits but resulted in significant financial losses.

Several FIRs have been registered by the police related to this massive fraud across various locations over the past few months.

The police also revealed that the Kulkarnis were wanted in as many as 42 offenses related to the scam. Both were suspected of living in hiding in Punawale. The accused were handed over to Beed police for further investigation.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier conducted raids across different locations in Maharashtra in connection with the alleged money laundering and financial fraud linked to the Dnyanradha Multistate Co-operative Credit Society. Several others, including Suresh Kute, chairman of the cooperative society, had been arrested in connection with this case.