On Tuesday, the Maharashtra State Bombay High Court granted bail to an Indian National Congress leader, Sunil Kedar, who was convicted of a bank scam in late December 2023. Kedar was also disqualified from the Maharashtra State Assembly after the conviction.
The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court accepted Kedar’s application for sentence suspension and paused execution of his prison sentence imposed by the trial court. However, the court dictated that Kedar must attend the trial Court on the first of every month and have his presence recorded. Furthermore, he must provide his cell phone number(s), proof of address and details of two relatives alongside proof of their addresses. Kedar is forbidden from departing the appellate court’s jurisdiction without prior permission and cannot apply for exemption save for under exceptional circumstances. Kedar had appealed to the high court after his initial bail plea was denied by the trial court.
Following a five-year jail term related to the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB) scam, Sunil Chhatrapal Kedar was disqualified as the legislator of the Saoner Assembly constituency in Nagpur. This disqualification, operative from the date of his conviction on December 22, was on the basis of Article 19(1)(e) of the Indian Constitution and Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The conviction, related to the two-decade-old NDCCB scam, included charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including charges of forgery and cheating. The irregularities involving the NDCCB emerged in 2002, leading to an extended investigation which ended with Kedar receiving a Bombay High Court notice in 2014 to repay defaulted dues.
Kedar is a five-time Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing the Saoner Assembly constituency in Nagpur district of Maharashtra state. Hailing from a notable political family, he is the son of Congress minister Chhatrapal Kedar, commonly known as Babasaheb Kedar. Kedar’s disqualification dealt a significant blow to the Maharashtra Congress in the Vidarbha region, where he commands considerable influence, particularly in rural areas.