Gokak MLA and BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi has been booked on the charge of cheating the Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank over a loan with outstanding dues of ₹439.7 crore.
The FIR was registered at the Vishveshwara Puram police station recently based on a complaint by Rajanna, General Manager (Banking), Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank.
The case pertains to a host of business loans, for Mr. Jarkiholi’s Gokak-based sugar factory Soubhagya Lakshmi Sugars Limited, taken from 2013 to 2017. During this time, Mr. Jarkiholi was with the Congress. He later defected to the BJP in 2019 and has had a running feud with Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and has accused Mr. Shivakumar of targeting him even in the “sex CD scandal”, in which Mr. Jarkiholi got a clean chit from the police.
In his complaint to the police, Mr. Rajanna said that Mr. Jarkiholi, who was Chairman and Managing Director of Soubhagya Lakshmi Sugars Limited in Gokak, and two of its directors identified as Vasanth V. Patil and Shankar A. Powade applied to the bank and got business loans totaling ₹232.88 crore between July 12, 2013 and August 31, 2017 from the Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank and other banks in its network, including district cooperative banks in Vijayapura, Tumakuru, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada.
The complainant alleged that the loans were not repaid and as of August 31, 2023 the total outstanding was ₹439.7 crore.
Mr. Rajanna said the bank had clearly laid down conditions that before the loans were cleared, the company cannot make changes to its board without the permission of the banks. However, the complaint alleged that in a conspiracy to cheat the bank and avoid repayment of the loan, the three accused have relinquished their positions in the company and made unconnected individuals directors of the company, without the knowledge of the bank.
