On Wednesday, a special court in Mumbai discharged Rohit Pawar (a member of the Nationalist Congress Party) and 16 others from a money laundering case linked to an alleged ₹25,000 crore scam at the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB). The court, presided over by Special Judge Mahesh Jadhav, accepted the discharge applications of all accused, effectively closing the case initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This case originated from an August 2019 FIR filed by the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing, which alleged that MSCB officials sold 'Sahakari Sakhar Karkhanas' at undervalued prices to relatives and private individuals, bypassing due process. The Economic Offences Wing had claimed that the state incurred losses of ₹25,000 crore from January 2007 to December 2017 due to these irregularities. Although the court accepted the closure report, the ED argued against the discharge, citing a pending writ petition challenging an earlier rejection of its intervention application in the Bombay High Court.