Pune: A local court has accepted the police closure report seeking discharge of three former senior officials of Bank of Maharashtra in connection with a cheating case against city-based developer D S Kulkarni. The Pune Police's economic offences wing (EOW) had in October last year filed the closure report, saying it did not find sufficient evidence against Bank of Maharashtra's then CEO and Managing Director Ravindra Marathe, Executive Director Rajendra Gupta and former CMD Sushil Muhnot, and sought their discharge.

Judge D G Murumkar of the EOW special court accepted the report on Monday. However, the depositors, who had earlier registered the case against Kulkarni, said they would challenge the special court's decision in the Bombay High Court. The Pune Police's EOW had in June last year arrested Marathe and other officials for allegedly misusing their official position for sanctioning loan to Kulkarni's construction firm - D S Kulkarni Developers Ltd (DSKDL). The bank officials were later released on bail. The police had then said the officials allegedly colluded with DSKDL with a "dishonest and fraudulent intention" to sanction the loan. Defence lawyer Harshad Nimbalkar on Monday said the court accepted the Pune Police's closure report after considering all aspects of the case.