File FIR in Khadse land case: Bombay HC to ACB

Mumbai: In a major jolt to the BJP, the Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register a case against BJP leader and state former revenue minister Eknath Khadse for allegedly grabbing MIDC land at Bhosari, Pune.

The state government told the HC that it is transferring the case from local police to the state ACB. The HC said that before starting its inquiry, the ACB must register an FIR. The HC was hearing a PIL filed by Pune activist Hemant Gawande, who alleged that the local police had not registered a police case to probe the irregularities despite his complaint.

Mr Gawande said that Khadse had misused his official position in 2016 to facilitate the purchase of a three-acre MIDC plot in Bhosari, Pune at a throwaway price of Rs 3.75 crore from its original owner in the name of his wife and son-in-law. It was alleged that MIDC had acquired the plot in Bhosari in 1971. The petitioner also stated that he had filed a complaint in the local police station in May 2016 but the police had still not registered an FIR.

Nitin Pradhan, special public prosecutor, who appeared for the state government informed the HC that the complaint falls under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the local police couldn’t investigate this complaint, hence the state decided to transfer it from Bund Garden police station, Pune to the ACB.

A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Revati Mohite-Dere then asked the state to register an FIR against Khadse first and then start the inquiry. The HC also said inquiry should be done ‘expeditiously and independently’. The state said that it would register an FIR.

The court further said the ACB’s investigation should not consider the findings or remark made by Bund Garden police station and Zoting committee, which was constituted to investigate the matter.  The court directed ACB’s additional director general to supervise the probe.

The HC kept the matter for hearing on April 3 and asked the ACB to file its first probe report by then. In the last hearing, the HC had rapped the state for going slow. The state had constituted a judicial commission under the chairmanship of retired HC justice Dinkar Zoting in the month of June 2016 and the commission had sought six months time to complete its probe. The state also informed that all the documents pertaining to case are with the commission and once commission will complete its probe the police would then investigate the matter. The HC told the state “no need to wait for commissions report, it’s your discretion to accept or reject the commissions report” and warned that if state fails to register an FIR it will direct to do so.