Somaiya: CM’S kin linked to accused in police vest scam
MUMBAI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MP Kirit Somaiya has accused chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law of having business links with a contractor who was accused of supplying faulty bulletproof jackets to Mumbai police, which had become an issue amid the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Somaiya alleged that Thackeray’s brother-in-law Shridhar Patankar has business relations with a company in which Bimal Agarwal, an accused of supplying faulty bulletproof vests to the police, was a partner.
“Agarwal is a partner in Samarth Erectors and Developers (SED) along with Shiv Sena leader Yashwant Jadhav’s son Yatin. Thackeray’s brother-inlaw Patankar had purchased TDR (transferable development rights) from SED, the company which bought a Malabar Hill project for redevelopment for ₹80 crore a month ago,” Somaiya said in a press conference.
Producing a registered partnership deed, Somaiya said Yashwant Jadhav’s son Yatin is a partner with Bimal Agarwal and his brother Kishor in SED.
He also produced a certificate issued by BMC to show the purchase of TDR. He said that Thackerays should clarify their business partnership with Yashwant Jadhav, former standing committee chairman in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Jadhav and his family are charged with amassing disproportionate property and have faced action by Income Tax.
“Agarwal is out of the prison on bail in the case he is facing for the faulty vests. He is facing a total of three criminal cases,” Somaiya said.
Patankar could not be reached for his comments.
The faulty jackets had sparked controversy as some of the officers were wearing those and fell to the bullets of terrorists in the 2008 terror attack. Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut ridiculed Somaiya’s allegations. “He [Somaiya] is an accused in the INS Vikrant scam. He out of [anticipatory] bail. He should not be taken seriously,” Raut told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. Somaiya and his son Neil were accused of collecting money to save the decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Vikrant from going to the scrapyard but not submitting the same to the government. The police are investigating the case.