BJP scoops up Pratibha's family members availing 'benami loans'

New Delhi, July 11 (UNI) In its latest attack on UPA left Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil, the BJP today brought out one more instance of her close relatives ''looting'' Pratibha Mahila Cooperative Bank availing 'benami loans' and getting it written off later.

BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar, asserting that Ms Patil was the 'founder member' of the defunct cooperative bank, claimed that her nephew Dilip Singh Patil had availed Rs 500,000 loans in 1992 in the name of the wives of the employees of the bank. The women were made to sign some papers including an authorisation to operate the account. Mr Aravind Patil, a former bank employee who claimed that his wife had signed the papers of Ms Patil's nephew, was presented at the press conference at the BJP headquarters.

The loans were never repaid and the outstanding amounts of Rs 8.4 lakh and 21.44 lakh were written off, he added, asking Ms Patil if this was not a 'loot'? The audit report of the Maharashtra Cooperative Department found that the shop which availed loans to sell chocolates and biscuits never existed and the RBI had categorised these as 'instances of fraud'.

UNI