IAC wants Gadkari to be booked under anti-graft act
Arvind Kejriwal-led India Against Corruption, which first levelled allegations of corruption against the BJP president Nitin Gadkari, has now demanded registration of a case against him.
Arvind Kejriwal-led India Against Corruption, which first levelled allegations of corruption against the BJP president Nitin Gadkari, has now demanded registration of a case against him.
The IAC, which in a highly anticipated press conference on October 17, had alleged that the Maharashtra government gave around 100 acres on lease for Gadkari's companies in return of "maintaining silence" on its scams, was later accused of going soft on the BJP chief.
IAC leader Prashant Bhushan has now demanded that Gadkari be charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PAC) for allegedly having misused his office as Maharashtra PWD minister between 1995 and 1999 to favour a company that later provided a loan of R164 crore to his Purti group of industries.
"Gadkari took a loan of R164 crore from a company to whom he had given various benefits as a PWD minister. Therefore, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, if a public servant receives any kind of gratification for himself or any other person from a company with whom he has official dealings then that amounts to corruption," Bhushan said.
The IAC has rejected Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's charge that Kejriwal had all the related documents on Gadkari, but he chose to reveal only what was in the public domain. "In that case, then why did Mr Singh write to the PM many days after our press conference on Gadkari ? Why did he not do it earlier and why he waited for Arvind Kejriwal to expose the BJP president ?" asked IAC leader Manish Sisodia.