A close examination by the Indian Cooperative Research Team has revealed that recent media reports identifying a Hingoli-based cooperative entity as an Urban Cooperative Bank were misleading.
It may be recalled that six individuals were arrested in connection with an online share trading scam that defrauded a Pune-based senior citizen of Rs 1.6 crore. Among the accused is Govind Suryawanshi, who was identified by police as a director of the so-called “Vighneshwar Multi-State Cooperative Bank,” allegedly headquartered in Wagholi.
However, verification by IndianCooperative.com sources confirms that no such bank exists under that name in India.
The entity in question is actually a multi-state credit cooperative society named Vighnahar Multi-State Cooperative Credit Society, with its registered office in Hingoli and operational jurisdiction in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
According to official cooperative records, Vighnahar Multi-State Cooperative Credit Society is not a bank and does not possess a banking license or status from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It is also not listed among the registered multi-state cooperative banks in India.
This clarification raises serious concerns about the legitimacy of the accused individuals’ operations and the misrepresentations made during the execution of the fraud. It also underscores the critical distinction between cooperative credit societies and banks—particularly since credit societies are not authorized to offer full-scale banking services such as large-scale fund transfers or investment schemes.
