The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has given a clean chit to former revenue minister Eknath Khadse in the corruption case wherein Gajanan Patil, who claimed to be his personal aide was arrested.
The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has given a clean chit to former revenue minister Eknath Khadse in the corruption case wherein Gajanan Patil, who claimed to be his personal aide was arrested. The chargesheet filed by the ACB does not mention Mr Khadse or frame any charges against him.
Officials in the ACB said the chargesheet was filed on June 14 and is said to be 1,000 pages long. “The chargesheet has no mention of Khadse and only frames charges against Patil,” said Deepali Patil, police inspector, anti-corruption bureau.
In May, ACB officials acted upon the complaint of Dr Ramesh Jadhav, a city-based economist and former director of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management. Dr Jadhav had alleged that Patil had demanded a bribe of 130 crore from him when he had approached the revenue department to review a government order regarding the allotment of a plot in Kalyan.
Patil was arrested from outside Mantralaya when the ACB officials laid a trap after verifying Dr Jadhav’s complaint. Following an uproar, ACB sources had said that they were investigating whether Patil was indeed Mr Khadse’s aide and if the latter had any role to play in the same.
The ACB, as part of its investigation, had recorded statements of officials from the revenue department and also certain aides of Mr Khadse. “We had searched Patil’s house too and even informed the court that he is not co-operating with the investigation,” said the officer.
The ACB had also collected documents from the revenue department’s office.
According to Dr Jadhav’s complaint, Patil had initially demanded a bribe of Rs 1 crore and a plush flat in the city. “Dr Jadhav had alleged that the government had initially shown interest in setting up a research centre under his direction and had also accepted a payment of nearly Rs 70 lakh from him. But in 2014, the state government passed an order allotting the said land to the transport department and even returned his amount,” said an officer.
Dr Jadhav, who wanted this order to be reviewed, would regularly visit the revenue department office and it was there that Patil allegedly approached him.
Following the allegations. Mr Khadse had issued a statement distancing himself from Patil and claiming that Patil was just a worker from his constituency.
