Vendetta behind criminal cases: APMC traders
NAVI MUMBAI: Several leading traders and former office-bearers of the Agricultural Produce Market Commitee (APMC) at Vashi including the NCP (SP) Lok Sabha candidate from Satara, Shashikant Shinde, have been booked in criminal cases and arrested/ interrogated over the past week. The traders, supporters of Sharad Pawar, allege the cases have been foisted on them due to political vendetta, while Pawar has threatened a statewide agitation if Shinde is arrested. But BJP leaders say the punitive action is the outcome of a long investigation, and more corruption is likely to be unearthed soon.
A former APMC director and working president of the powerful Maharashtra Rajya Mathadi, Transport and General Kamgar Union, Shashikant Shinde is a staunch Sharad Pawar loyalist.
On November 11, 2023, Shinde was named as an accused in a ₹7.6-crore scam in the maintenance and upkeep of 11 toilets at the APMC market. Following his nomination as the NCP (SP) candidate from Satara, another former APMC director and leading trader Sanjay Pansare was arrested in the toilet scam. Two other former directors, Ashok Walunj and Shankar Pingle, were also reportedly interrogated.
Even as the probe into the toilet scam gathered steam, Shinde and 24 others including former APMC directors and bureaucrats were booked in a fresh case – a ₹62-crore alleged scam involving allocation of space at the APMC market at depreciated rates. APMC traders and mathadi workers are known t o be staunch loyalists of Sharad Pawar and his supporters are often elected to the APMC board as directors and office-bearers. In recent times, however, with prominent mathadi leader Narendra Patil joining the BJP, equations have changed.
Patil, in fact, had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha poll on a Shiv Sena ticket with the BJP’S support and his opponent was Udayan Raje Bhosale, then in the NCP. In this election, however, Bhosale is the BJP candidate from Satara and he will take on Shinde, who finds himself embroiled in a fresh case in the midst of the election.
The police have denied any political motive behind their recent actions, saying they were based on investigation.
But Shinde alleged the cases were a means of pressuring him as the BJP can already sense a defeat in Satara. “The cases are being raked up right now to damage my prospects in the election,” he said.
Narendra Patil, also the state vice president of BJP, denied allegations of political vendetta, saying, “These investigations have been going on for a very long time.” He claimed that those who have been implicated in cases were not only supporters of Sharad Pawar but had good relations with leaders of various political parties. “Bureaucrats have been booked too. The law has taken its course,” he said.
Patil claimed that Sharad Pawar purposely nominated Shinde despite knowing about the case against him as well as the fact that he was out on anticipatory bail. “It Pawar believes Shinde is clean, he should state so in an affidavit instead of threatening to hold protests,” he said.
Patil also cautioned that more corruption would be unearthed soon, saying, “This is just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of skeletons will tumble out when detailed investigations are carried out on the APMC functioning over the years.”