₹1.8 crore Dhule stash: Suspended officer was touring sans approval

Khotkar told HT: “The allegations are baseless. We were performing our duty and visited various parts of Dhule district to ensure the poor and tribal people in region get befits of government schemes.”

MUMBAI: A day after ₹1.8 crore was seized from a government guest house in Dhule, allegedly stashed by contractors to bribe members of the Estimates Committee who were touring the region, it was revealed that suspect Kishor Patil, desk officer of the state legislature, who Sena (UBT) leaders claimed is an aide of Arjun Khotkar, Shiv Sena MLA and chairman of the Committee, was touring the region without official approval. Patil was suspended on Thursday. He was not officially appointed as Khotkar’s assistant either.

₹1.8 crore Dhule stash: Suspended officer was touring sans approval

On Friday Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders underscored that no case has been registered by the police yet, although people in the know told HT that a departmental inquiry will be conducted against Patil. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said: “Who is CM Fadnavis trying to protect? Why has Patil not been arrested.”

Meanwhile, Dhule police and the income tax department continued their investigations and interrogated several people in connection with the case, confirmed Shrikant Dhivare, superintendent of police, Dhule, although no arrests were made till the end of the day.

“Kishor Patil is working as desk officer; he is not allowed to work as the personal assistant of the committee’s chairperson. There was a proposal submitted for his appointment as the personal assistant but it was not approved. He left for Dhule regardless,” said an official from the state legislature.

When asked about allegations on Patil, Jitendra Bhole, principal secretary of state legislature, said that departmental inquiry will be conducted against him. “Once we receive the report from Dhule authorities we will decide further course of action,” said Bhole.

Meanwhile after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday a special investigation team (SIT) will probe the money trail with an additional inquiry by the Ethics Committee of the state legislature, the official said the committee will now be constituted. Efforts of forming such a committee had failed in 2002-03, said the official. “The speaker of the assembly and chairperson of council are likely to start the process of forming the ethics committee,” he said.

Khotkar told HT: “The allegations are baseless. We were performing our duty and visited various parts of Dhule district to ensure the poor and tribal people in region get befits of government schemes.”