“The non co-operative attitude of the staff and rumours floated by them finally lead to the collapse of the bank. The entire board of directors resigned on August 13, 2003, to protest this,” he said. He didn’t elaborate on what these rumours were.

Around 60 km from Jalgaon in Muktainagar, Chintaman Supadu Choudhari has preserved receipts dated April 15, 1982, as proof that he and wife Ushatai purchased shares worth Rs 2000 in the Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, also set up by Pratibha Patil.

The factory, inaugurated by Congress President Sonia Gandhi in January 1999, had a total of of Rs 58.26 crore as liabilities and was recently sealed by the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank limited for pending loans.

“I am yet to get a refund of the money that the factory owes to me since the last 25 years. Rs 2000 seems to be a small amount but over 25 years it would have given me a significant sum but there’s nothing now. What must be the fate of the poor farmers who invested with hopes of a better tomorrow?” he says, standing outside the barbed wire fencing of the shut sugar factory at Pratibhanagar in Ghodasgaon near Muktainagar.