3 weeks Ago
Pune: Defence lawyer Ujjwala Pawar on Wednesday questioned the arrest of Milind Deshmukh , ousted secretary of the Servants of India Society , before a forensic audit report could be generated into the alleged Rs1.42 crore misappropriation of funds at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), an affiliated unit of the society. Arguing for Deshmukh's bail before a magisterial court, Pawar cited GIPE audit reports of 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 to claim that there was no misappropriation in the transfer of Rs1.
02 crore to the Nagpur district collector (to convert a land parcel held by the SIS from leasehold to freehold land) and Rs40 lakh to meet allied expenses. Pawar argued that the joint charity commissioner is vested with the powers to conduct special audits under certain circumstances, but in this case, the commissioner accepted and approved the audit reports of the GIPE as no irregularities were discovered in the transfer Rs 1.42 crore in funds.
She explained that the case registered was civil in dispute and based on documentary evidence, adding that Deshmukh did not commit an offence of cheating and misappropriation as alleged. She added that the complainant, Vishal Gaikwad, registered an FIR against Deshmukh even though there is no evidence to show that he did not conduct the transactions of transferring the funds on the day when he was appointed as the deputy registrar on April 4, 2025. The court, after hearing the defence, deferred the hearing to enable the state prosecution to make its submission on the bail matter on Thursday.
Deshmukh was arrested on April 5. He has been under magisterial custody at the Yerawada central prison since April 11..
