The Opposition Congress and NCP on Thursday rooted for the dismissal of Maharashtra Co-operation Minister Subhash Deshmukh from the State Cabinet over the seizure of cash amounting to Rs 91.50 lakh belonging to a co-operative bank linked to him by a civic vigilance squad at Umarga in Osmanabad district on Wednesday.
Talking to media persons separately, spokespersons of the State Congress and NCP Sachin Sawant and Nawab Malik demanded that the Income Tax department officials Deshmukh and a few other BJP leaders, from whom huge sums of demonetized notes were seized in the state during the last one week.
“We are witnessing the seisure of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes from BJP leaders in the state after the demonetisation of these two high denomination notes,” Sawant said.
“A few days ago, a sum of Rs 6 crore cash was seised from a vehicle belonging to the relative of BJP’s Sangli MlA Sudhir Gadgil. Yesterday, the vigilance department of the Osmanabad Municipal Corporation seized Rs 91.50 lakh – all in Rs 1,000 notes. There are also reports about the seizure of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 from the BJP leaders from other parts of the state. That goes to prove that they have black money,” Sawant alleged, as he urged the IT department to conduct raids on the premises of the BJP leaders concerned.
Dismissing the claim by Deshmukh that the money seized from his bank’s van was meant for paying the sugarcane cutting labourers, Malik said: “A sum of Rs 91.50 lakh has been seized from Deshmukh. At a time when the ruling BJP is waging a war against people hoarding black money, the fact that such a huge sum of money has been seised from a Maharashtra minister goes to prove that the BJP has black money, Our demand is that Deshmukh be removed forthwith from the State Cabinet and an offence be registered against him”.
It may be recalled that lokmangal Agro Industries ltd, an unlisted company promoted by Deshmukh had come under the scanner of the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) for illegal issuance of shares to farmers in Solapur district. The SEBI had, in an interim order passed on August 1 this year, had directed Deshmukh's company to refund with interest Rs 74.82 crore to 4,751 investors.