MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a probe into the recovery of Rs 1.8 crore in cash at a Government Guest House. A special investigation team (SIT) was formed following the opposition's uproar over the issue.
Opposition alleged that Rs 1.80 crore cash was found at Shiv Sena leader and MLA Arjun Kothakar and his personal assistant Kishor Patil booked room no 102 at a Guest House in Dhule, Maharashtra.
Local leader Anil Gote said that the probe and SIT by state government is nothing but an eye wash to suppress the incident so that truth should not come out.
Gote alleged that the Shiv Sena leader Arjun Kothakar was in Dhule to attend the MLAs proposed budget meeting and collected a bribe amount of Rs 5 crore in lieu of government contracts.
"This Rs 5 crore bribe money was meant to be distributed among the ruling party MLAs. There is a big scam in the making, and money collections taking place in return of allotment of government contracts in Maharashtra. Without paying a single penny, no government contract has been allocated in state. The ruling party leaders do often come to collect the bribe amount. The contractors are exploited, therefore, rather than doing good work, they do inferior work. The honest tax payers' money has been misused," said Gote.
He said that earlier, several SITs were set up in different matters, but nothing happened.
"I have written to chief minister, prime minister and president of India but nothing has been done so far. So we have little hope from this SIT as well. We do not have trust over the government agencies and probe. The judicial probe by retired high court judge or the matter should be given to the central agencies to conduct the probe. In SIT, the real culprits will not be punished, while those who have nothing to do with this matter will be framed and later released once the public attention is ebbed," Gote alleged.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that the recovery of Rs 1.80 crore hard cash shows that there are mafias in alliance with the government who are looting the people.
"The collected money was used to poach the elected representatives of oppositions parties and topple the government. The central agency will conduct the raids at opposition premises and arrest them even if there is no corruption proof. Some time the arrest were made based on flimsy allegations. But here Rs 1.80 crore hard cash was found at Shiv Sena MLA booked room, still ED-like agencies are silent and not taking any action. It exposes the law of this land," Raut alleged.