OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai, June 7: Sharad Pawar confidant Padamsinh Patil was today arrested in connection with the 2006 murders of his cousin-turned-rival Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver.
The Osmanabad MP, detained overnight for questioning by the CBI, was charged with double murder and conspiracy. He is the first MP in the new Lok Sabha to be arrested on these charges.
Patil, 64, was produced before a court in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, and remanded in police custody till June 14. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
“There is no truth in this. I am a victim of political vendetta,” the NCP legislator said before entering the court.
Nimbalkar, a Congressman, and his driver Samad Qazi were shot on June 3, 2006, in Navi Mumbai while returning after negotiating a land deal.
Senior leader Govindrao Adik distanced the NCP from the arrest, saying it “has nothing to do with the case”.
Pawar, a distant relative of Patil, said: “I have full faith in the judicial system and would like a fair investigation to be conducted.”
The case passed from Navi Mumbai police to the state CID, but failed to make headway. In February 2008, Nimbalkar’s wife Anandibai and son Om Raje moved Bombay High Court demanding a CBI probe. Last October, the CBI took charge.
Investigations, however, did not gather pace till the arrest of Parasmal Jain and underworld sharpshooter Dinesh Tiwari on May 26. The next day, the CBI told the Panvel court the duo had “confessed” that they were offered Rs 30 lakh to kill Nimbalkar at Patil’s behest.
Political sources said relations between Patil and Nimbalkar soured after social activist Anna Hazare made corruption allegations against four Congress-NCP ministers, including Patil, in 2002-03.
The allegations pertained to a co-operative sugar factory controlled by him, and led to Patil’s removal from the then Vilasrao Deshmukh cabinet. Patil suspected that Nimbalkar had helped Hazare expose the irregularities.
Subsequently, Nimbalkar contested against him as an Independent but lost. Nimbalkar later joined the Congress.
We are off to a flying start.
Our new parliament is hardly one week old and the Osmanabad MP, Padansinh Patil has been charged of murder and arrested.
I can say he is the true representative of our MP and MLA class.
He should be rewarded.
But how long will he be in jail?
You can rest assured that he will soon be out on bail to threaten the people who have been witness to his crime.
But my question is how was this person allowed to contest?
Shouldn't some methodology be developed so that such persons are weeded out and not allowed to contest?
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