There seems to be more trouble in store for the man who was caught trying to smuggle in diamond-studded watches at the Sahar airport on Sunday.
It’s just not the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) that controversial Pune-based hotelier and contractor Avinash Bhosale is up against. There seems to be more trouble in store for the man who was caught trying to smuggle in diamond-studded watches at the Sahar airport on Sunday.
Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister RR Patil has dug up an Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) proposal, flied in 1998 by the then Inspector General of ACB SM Mushrif, which sought permission to initiate an inquiry into several multi-crore contracts awarded to Bhosale during the Shiv Sena-BJP regime in the state.
Patil said on Wednesday, “I have called for the file. I will certainly order an inquiry into the matter. In fact, as an Opposition MLA, I had often raised the issue of large-scale irregularities in awarding contracts by Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC).”
However, there is one difficulty that the Home Department might face in the event of an inquiry into the contracts awarded to Bhosale. As cases would have to be initiated against senior officers of the MKVDC, who served during that time, there would be ample loopholes for Bhosale to slip through. “We will be taking care of that point,” said Patil.
The Home Minister is probably aiming to kill several birds with one stone. He will not only be initiating an inquiry against Bhosale, he will also be probing irregularities committed by three successive irrigation ministers of the saffron regime — Gopinath Munde, Mahadevrao Shivanakar and Eknath Khadse. And, if Patil increases the scope of inquiry to contracts awarded to Bhosale during Democratic Front government in its two regimes, then he will also be targeting two of his own colleagues, who are alleged to be friends of Bhosale.
However, on record, Patil refuted all allegations suggesting that Bhosale was very close to several NCP ministers and leaders. He said, “No one should malign the image of the NCP and its leaders. He has no links with any NCP minister. And, if at all he had been awarded contracts during our regime, then they must have been done on merit.”
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