Mumbai: A day after revenue minister
Eknath Khadse refused to sack his officer on special duty (OSD) Unmesh Mahajan, Congress on Tuesday demanded his immediate arrest as his name figured in a corruption case.
A Congress delegation led by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Sachin Sawant called on additional director general of the anti corruption bureau, Bipin Kumar Singh, to demand Mahajan’s arrest.
“Khadse’s close aide Gajanan Patil has been arrested for demanding bribe of Rs 30 crore from R K Jadhav for allotment of land. In Patil’s statement, Mahajan’s name has been mentioned on several occasions. Under such circumstances, it is the duty of the ACB to arrest Mahajan immediately to find out the truth,” Sawant said.
Sawant alleged that there was prolonged delay on the part of the ACB to act on the complaint lodged by Jadhav, a former director of a leading management college. “Our information is that Jadhav lodged a complaint on September 22 against Patil. However, ACB swung into action only after the Lok Ayukta sought information on the present status of the probe,” Sawant said.
The Congress leader said it was the responsibility of the ACB to record statements of all the persons concerned and seize the hard disk from Mahajan’s computer or laptop, but it appears that the ACB is going slow on the probe for obvious political reasons.
The main allegation against Khadse is that through Patil he demanded Rs 30 crore for allotment of land for the project floated by Jadhav, where as he (Khadse) submitted that there was no question of allotment of land to him, since the entire case was closed long back.
“Allegations against me are baseless. When the total cost of the land stood at Rs 5 crore, how can one demand a bribe of Rs 30 crore. Entire case appears to be fabricated to defame me,” Khadse said.