Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday defended former and current Ministers, including Eknath Khadse, Pankaja Munde and Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar, who are facing allegations of corruption and irregularities.
Dismissing most of the allegations of corruption and irregularities made by his former and current Ministers, including Khadse and Pankaja, the Chief Minister said, “(Through facts), I have already proven as to how incorrect are the allegations made against our (former and current) Ministers)… All the same let me tell you that the people have elected us to provide a transparent Government. We are of the firm view that we in the Government are the trustees of the people. We are a democracy. There should be criticism of those in power. If we have erred somewhere, you (Opposition) should point out. We will correct ourselves...Otherwise democracy becomes dictatorship”.
Responding to each of the allegations made against former and current Ministers in his Government, the Chief Minister said in the State Assembly that the investigations had already proved that there was truth in two of the allegations against Khadse, who had to resign from his Minister’s post in the wake of allegations of corruption, misuse of power and links with Karachi-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Fadnavis said that while the authorities concerned had given clean chit to Khadse in the allegations that one Gajanan Patil who claimed himself to be his “personal aide” for allegedly demanding a `30-crore bribe from an entrepreneur over a land allotment issue and that telephone calls were made to his mobile phone from the Karachi residence of Dawood Ibrahim. The allegations against Khadse in the Pune land deal were being investigated by a commission of inquiry.
“It is I who gave clean chit to Khadse in both the cases, but the investigating agencies. In the Gajanan Patil case, it was the lokayukta who gave a clean chit to Khadse — based on a report from the Anti Corruption Bureau (which had arrested Patil). In the Dawood call log case, it was Maharashtra ATS that gave a clean chit to Khadse. The ATS examined the call data records of Khadse found that no calls had been received from the residence of Dawood as had been alleged by Vadodara — based hacker Manish Bhangale,” the Chief Minister said.
Khadse said that hacker Bhangale had come to meet him with the allegations of the call exchange between Dawood’s residence and Khadse and he had referred the latter to the crime branch’s cyber cell of the Mumbai police. “The Cyber cell did not did not find much in Bhangale’s allegation. I later referred the matter to the ATS which investigated the case and found that there was no truth in the allegations against Khadse,” the chief minister said, adding that the State ATS was currently investigating into the violations of IT Act indulged in Bhangale.
Alluding to the Pune land deal case, Fadnavis said: “ I would not like into the merits and demerits of the Pune land deal case. The State government has appointed a committee headed by retired high court judge Dinkar Zoting to investigate the allegations against Khadse. The committee has been asked to submit its report within three months”.
On the alleged irregularities in the tendering process adopted by the Pankaja Munde-headed Ministry for Women and Child Welfare, the chief minister referred to two recent judgements by the Aurangabad and Nagpur benches of the Bombay High Court and said that both the verdicts had not found fault with the conditions involving the tendering process. “While making allegations, impression was sought to be created that tendering process and conditions were violated to favour certain contractors. Both the verdicts have clearly said that the conditions are in conformity with the order of the Supreme Court”.
“The only difference between the two verdicts is that while the Aurangabad bench has recommended that fresh survey of the infrastructure available with the contractor concerned, the Nagpur bench has validated all the processes undertaken by us during the tendering. We are seeking opinion of the law and Judiciary department to examine both the verdicts and suggest us as how to go ahead with the tendering process,” the chief minister said, while dimssing the allegations against Pankaja.
Similarly, Fadnavis dismissed the allegations against former chief minister Shivajirao Patil-Nlangekar’s grandson Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar, who has been found to be closely associated with a company listed as a wilful defaulter by the Bank of Maharashtra.
Sambhaji, Minister for labour, Earthquake Rehabilitation and Ex—servicemen’s Welfare, is a guarantor for a loan that was a non—performing asset (NPA) and declared as a “fraud account” with an outstanding balance of Rs 49.29 crore owed to two state—owned banks — Bank of Maharashtra and Union Bank of India.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last year filed a chargesheet in a case of cheating lodged by the banks after finding that the mortgage deed papers for the loan had been tampered with. “As the matter pertains to a national bank, the inquiry is being conducted by CBI. The issue has arisen due to a succession dispute within Nilangekar family. Nothing more should be read into it,” the chief ministersaid.
“No charge has been proved against minister Jaykumar Rawal. At this junucture, there is no single crime registered against Minister of State Ravindra Chavan. There is also no truth in the allegations made against Shiv Sena’s Minister of State for Housing Ravindra Waikar,” the chief minister said, while dismissing allegations against another minister Girish Mahajan.