Port Blair: The Enforcement Directorate has filed a supplementary charge sheet against former Andaman and Nicobar MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma and 13 others in the alleged fraud at the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank. The charge sheet was filed before the Special Court at Port Blair, taking the total number of accused in the case to 52.
Sharma was the MP for Andaman and Nicobar from 2019 to 2024. A former vice chairman of the bank is among the other accused.
The agency has alleged a fraud of about ₹500 crore. It has provisionally attached 35 immovable and five movable properties worth around ₹121.35 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
All the allegations remain untested and no court has ruled on the case. The accused are entitled to contest the charges.
The cooperative bank is the main banking institution in the union territory, and the case surfaced after complaints about irregularities in lending and the diversion of funds.
The supplementary charge sheet widens the agency's case. The court will now take the charge sheet on record, and the accused will get an opportunity to respond at the next hearing.
The charges against a former MP mark a significant stage in the probe. The matter also carries political weight locally, given the bank's reach across the islands.
A date for the next hearing will be fixed once the court takes the charge sheet on record. The accused will then get their chance to respond, and can contest the attachment of the properties through the route the law provides.