After Chhagan Bhujbal, more Opp leaders set to face graft probe

The state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had first sought the government’s permission for a probe against Dhoble in a disproportionate assets case on October 9, 2014. After much delay, the home department is learnt to have decided to process the ACB’s request.

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A senior state official, who did not wish to be named, said the department was also in the favour of recommending an “open inquiry” into allegations of graft in a cooperative bank scam, involving former Congress minister Harshwardhan Patil and Legislative Council member Amrish Patel, among others. The ACB had first sought permission for a probe in the matter last September, after its preliminary investigations found merit in the allegations of corruption.

A minister said clarifications sought by government departments on some of the points raised in the both the proposals had caused the delay.
Dhoble, who held the water supply and sanitation portfolio in the Prithviraj Chavan government and is a former MLA from Solapur’s Mohol constituency, is facing allegations of having amassed disproportionate assets worth several hundred crores of rupees. Incidentally, local NCP activists who were opposed to Dhoble had submitted some of these complaints to the ACB. Sources in the ACB confirmed that five reminders had already been sent to the government for permission to probe Dhoble, with the last one being dispatched on May 6, 2015.

The cooperative bank case centres around complaints of Rs 144-crore misappropriation in the Dhule District Cooperative Bank, of which Patel is a former director. Incidentally, Dhule’s BJP legislator Anil Gote is a principal complainant in the case. Gote has alleged that the cooperative bank incurred heavy losses and the state exchequer was hit because of the sanctioning of unsecured loans and financial irregularities when Patel was at the helm.

Harshwardhan Patil, who held the cooperative portfolio during the previous Congress-NCP regime, is under the scanner for extending a stay on action against Patel and the then directors of the bank, when bureaucrats in his department had also recommended action against the bank’s office-bearers.

“The ACB’s preliminary investigations suggest that the stay was questionable,” a senior state official said.

Former additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan, now retired, had granted the departmental approval to probe both cases last December but the files were sent back to the department after certain “back queries” were raised by senior officials.

Besides the Congress leader, the role of NCP leader Rajvardhan Kadambande is also under the scanner, according to the sources.

Both Patil and Dhoble have been rubbishing the allegations.

The proposals will be sent to Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya after the home department clears them. These would then be forwarded to the CM’s office for a final approval.