CBI Charges IPS Officer Bhagyashree Navtake in ₹1,200 Crore Scam Investigation

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked IPS officer Bhagyashree Navtake on charges of forgery and criminal conspiracy, the agency announced on Thursday. The case is linked to instances of forgery and flawed documentation in an alleged ₹1,200 crore scam investigation.

Navtake has been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 466 (forgery of records), 474 (using as genuine a forged document), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence). According to the CBI, Navtake led the investigation into the alleged ₹1,200 crore scam associated with the Jalgaon-based Bhaichand Hirachand Raisoni Credit Society from 2020 to 2022.

The Pune police registered the initial case against Navtake in August, prompted by a CID report that highlighted procedural lapses in the scam investigation, which also mentioned other unidentified individuals. This directive came from the Maharashtra Home Department. At that time, Navtake was heading the Special Investigation Team as DCP of the economic offence wing, tasked with probing cases linked to the Bhaichand Hirachand Raisoni Credit Society in Pune district.

The CID probe indicated that Navtake, as the investigating officer, committed forgery by registering three cases under one crime in a single day and securing complainants' signatures without their presence. Following the CID's findings, the Maharashtra Home Department instructed the Pune police to file a case against Navtake.

The alleged scam, dating back to 2015, involved the cheating of numerous individuals through promises of attractive interest rates on fixed deposits. Jitendra Kandare, a primary suspect in the nearly ₹1,200 crore fraud linked to the Bhaichand Hirachand Raisoni (BHR) State Cooperative Credit Society, was arrested by Pune City Police in June 2021, and the investigation remains ongoing.

In 2020, the case was transferred to the CBI, which subsequently registered a case of corruption and cheating against the directors of a Delhi-based company for defrauding 12 banks.

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