State govt has been trying to protect him: Hazare

The state government dilly-dallied in taking action Padamsinh Patil in an attempt to protect him in the Pawanraje Nimbalkar murder case, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare alleged on Sunday.

The state did nothing for three years since Nimbalkar’s murder, but the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP from Osmanabad in just eight months after taking over the investigation into the murder, he told DNA from his village at Ralegaon Siddhi. Hazare said the case was transferred to the CBI only in October 2008, after the late Congress leader’s widow moved the Bombay High Court.
State police officials who had properly investigated the case were shunted out of the probe by people with vested interests, he said.

Hazare wondered why the NCP gave Padamsinh Patil a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Osmanabad when he had a politically tainted image.  He clarified that his fight is not against any individual or political party. “I am fighting against the evils of society.”

Despite Patil’s arrest, he will go ahead with the state-wide agitation he has planned from June 11, Hazare said. The agitation will create awareness about the Nimbalkar murder case, as it is symbolic of the criminalisation of politics, he said.