BJP MlA from Maharashtra Anil Gote on Wednesday accused senior Maharashtra IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar of running a "big money laundering business " in league with his "nine other IAS colleagues" and demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of High Court to " expose" the alleged racket.
Addressing a Press conference here, Gote said he has written letters with affidavits to the Prime Minister's Office, Director Central Bureau of Investigation and Income Tax Commissioner and "sent five to six reminders to all" but " nothing came out of it".
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, this month, announced Mopalwar's removal as vice-chairman and managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) pending an inquiry against him.
Asked for the reaction to the inquiry, Gote said it was being headed by former Chief Secretary Johny Joseph who he alleged was also hand-in-glove with Mopalwar. " I am demanding an inquiry by a sitting high court judge who can not be influenced " by the IAS lobby led by Mopalwar, he said.
The BJP MlA said, " Mopalwar is the mastermind behind the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam" in 1995 and after his release the IAS officer has got into " money laundering by buying fake & shut down companies to float its shares". Gote alleged that the money of state IAS officers was being investigated in these shell companies. " It is a racket of senior IAS officers who have quasi-judicial powers", he charged.
" Mopalwar with nine other IAS officer with seven still serving had purchased Kolkata based company Arnold Holdings which was running in loss but started making profit after as his daughter Tanvi Moplawar and his associates appointed as board of directors and issued shares in their names".
The IAS officer, according to the BJP MlA, has married four times and while giving divorce to the third wife , " he agreed to settle the divorce proceeding by paying his wife and daughter Rs 32 crore".
Asked why he was after senior IAS officer, the BJP MlA said it was Mopalwar who "trapped me in Telgi scam.. I was in jail for four years and so was Mopalwar", he said. Both are now on bail.
The counterfeit stamp paper Telgi scam which was estimated to be around Rs 20,000 crores saw registration of 12 cases in Maharashtra between 1992 and 2002 and another 15 cases in other parts of the country.
Claiming wide influence and hold of Mopalwar in Maharashtra, Gote said situation could be gauzed by the face that no heed was given to the PMO instructing Maharashtra government to produce a factual report on the alleged corruption charges against the IAS officer and CBI, Vigilance department and IT department also asking the state government " to verify and initiate action".
He listed names of Congress CMs -Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh and senior Congress leader Sushikkumar Shinde- who had allegedly backed Mopalwar's corruption.