India, April 30 -- A first information report (FIR) has been registered against senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Maharashtra cabinet minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 53 others in connection with an alleged loan waiver fraud amounting to approximately Rs.8.86 crore. Loni-Rahata Police Station in Ahilyanagar district filed the case on April 28 following a court directive.

The FIR names senior bank officials, directors of the Padmashri Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil Cooperative Sugar Factory - an entity linked to Vikhe Patil- and others. Vikhe Patil has been named as accused number 19 in the FIR.

The complaint accuses them of financial misappropriation and defrauding the government by misusing a loan waiver scheme meant for farm...