Khadse comeback suffers blow

‘It appears none of the party top brass wants him back,’ says party insider a day after police booked him

Eknath Khadse’s chances of returning to the Devendra Fadnavis-led state government suffered a major blow on Monday, when the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) registered a first information report (FIR) against the former revenue minister, his wife and son-in-law. The charges relate to the purchase of industrial land in Bhosari, Pune. Khadse was forced to resign as revenue minister last June after details of the dubious deal were revealed.

“It now appears none of the party top brass wants Khadse back,” a party insider said on Tuesday.

The former minister face investigations by several agencies – the police, ACB , a one-man committee comprising retired justice DB Zoting, and the Bombay high court.

Though Fadnavis had promised the state-appointed committee headed by retired justice Zoting would complete its investigation in three months, it has sought several extensions. It was accorded additional powers after a notification was issued under the Commission of Inquiry Act. Though the committee is yet to submit its report, the ACB’S FIR poses a new challenge for Khadse, who was keen to return to the government as a minister.

The FIR was registered a day before Khadse’s hearing in the Bombay high court. At the previous

hearing, in March, the court had ordered the ACB to register an FIR and submit an investigation report.

Khadse told HT, “The police conducted a probe and found there was no substance to the Bhosari land deal allegations. The FIR was filed only after the government pleader told the court that the state would initiate a criminal case. Despite all the allegations levelled against me, I have come out clean in every

case. This will not be an exception.”

“People whose vested interests were thwarted by my actions as minister are the ones who hatched this conspiracy. It is strange how allegations in various cases were levelled against me only in the year before I resigned,” he added.

The original complaint in the Bhosari land deal case was filed by Hemant Gawande in May 2016. Gawande said Khadse had misused

his position as revenue minister to buy more than a hectare of land in Survey No. 52 at Bhosari industrial estate. Gawande added that Khadse had met revenue officials at his office at Mantralaya, and 15 days later his wife, son-inlaw and others bought the land.

Gawande said the market price of the land was Rs31 crore but Khadse’s relatives bought it for just Rs3.75 core. He also said the land was to be acquired by the government and that the potential

compensation was around Rs80 crore. “Khadse bought the land so he could get additional returns,” Gawande alleged.

Khadse said MIDC did not own the land as it had failed to follow a 1995 government order mandating that the acquisition be finalised in three years. He raised this point in the legislative assembly last week and sought a clarification from the government. Fadnavis had said then that the law and judiciary department would

be asked to clarify the order.

Khadse has been cornered by his own party several times, even on his home turf, Jalgaon. Staunch Khadse supporter Gurumukh Jagwani was not re-nominated to the legislative council last year. Later, his supporters were denied tickets in the district council election. Worse still, his arch rival in the party, water resources minister Girish Mahajan, was given a say in decisions related to Jalgaon.