The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has started work on setting up separate teams to inquire into the corruption charges related to the irrigation scam against Ajit Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare. ACB received the go ahead from the state government in this regard recently.
ACB officials said such inquiries are normally completed in three to nine months' time.
According to sources, ACB has already prepared a strategy to investigate, step by step, the involvement of the NCP leaders in the scams—irrigation and construction of the New Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi.
Names of former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, former ministers Sunil Tatkare and Chagan Bhujbal figure in related files, hence ACB required government approval for holding an inquiry into the scam.
Investigations into the related files with the PWD, which deal with construction of the New Maharashtra Sadan would be carried out by Vishwas Nangare-Patil, additional commissioner of police (anti-corruption), and the irrigation scam would be probed by the Thane ACB office.
Nangare-Patil refused to divulge any details on the steps that would be taken to unravel the scam, but confirmed that ACB received orders regarding the inquiry after the state advocate general had made a statement in the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay high court last week. He also confirmed that ACB would seek help from experts as the scam involved many irrigation projects and details regarding the department and the projects.
ACB would inquire into administrative lapses as well as criminal misconduct, if any.
Sources in BJP said the government would explore all possibilities, including consulting CBI officials who had inquired into the fodder scam that involved former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. ACB officials did not confirm this, however.
A senior BJP leader, meanwhile, maintained that even though the public perception is that such inquiries do not amount to much, the state government would show how it was different from earlier governments.
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