Charotar bank accused of selling NRI’s plot illegally

Yet another skeleton from the closet of the Charotar Peoples’ Cooperative Bank in Anand has tumbled out with an NRI accusing the bank officials of selling off his plot without informing him. The Anand District Court on Thursday has directed a DSP-level enquiry into the alleged illegal sale of a plot leased to an NRI by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation, Vidyanagar. The bank also known as Charotar Nagarik Sahakari Bank Limited is now under liquidation since 2003 following the scams worth crores of rupees by its trustees,According to a petition filed by Anand-based businessman Hitesh Patel on behalf of British national Jagadish Patel, who is originally from Vidyanagar district, the NRI had set up a printing press on a 3360-sq ft plot in 1982 (presently valued at Rs 7 crore) leased to him by the GIDC. In 2002, when Patel could not repay the loans he had taken from the Charotar Bank for his venture, he mortgaged the printing press to the bank.