Nagpur, Jan 12 (PTI): A public interest litigation has sought a direction to Maharashtra government to recover Rs 154 crore with interest from the Congress MLA from Saoner Sunil Kedar, accused of siphoning money from the Nagpur district Central Co-Operative Bank when he was its chairman.

The petition has been filed before the Nagpur bench of Court" target="_blank">Bombay High Court by Omprakash Kamdi, resident of Wadegaon village in Saoner tehsil of the district.

Kedar was a Minister of State for Energy at one time.

As per the petition, the cooperative department directed him to cough up Rs 299 crore after the scam came to light in 2002. He was arrested by the police, and now the case is before the trial court.

According to the PIL, Yashwant Bagde, a special auditor who was appointed after the scam came to light, recently passed the order seeking Rs 220 crore from Kedar. The amount includes interest at 12 per cent for 11 years.

Co-operative department's inquiry report was submitted on November 28, 2013, but the state, as yet, had taken no step to recover the money from Kedar, says the petitioner.

Kedar is accused of flouting rules while investing the bank's funds in G-secs. The funds were routed through the investment firm Home Trade Securities, which neither bought securities nor paid back the money, causing loss to the bank.

Subsequently, the bank's board of directors was sacked and an administrator was appointed.