NCP activist seeks quick hearing against BJP’s Baban Gholap in corruption case

With the case hanging fire for over 10 years, Yawatkar has now filed an interim application seeking permission to assist the public prosecutor, oppose the request of the appellants and demand confirmation of the conviction awarded by the trial court

MUMBAI: Milind Yavatkar, an activist and NCP worker, has decided to intervene in a corruption case he had filed against BJP politician Babanrao Gholap years ago, resulting in his conviction by the lower court.

Mumbai, India, March 21, 2014: Senior Shiv Sena leader and a candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) election Babanrao Gholap arrives at session court in Mumbai, India on Friday, March 21, 2014. Babanroa Gholap and his wife found guilty of holding assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. (Photo by Kunal Patil / Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Gholap, who was then the social welfare minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government formed in 1995, was accused of being involved in the siphoning off of ₹4.5 crore from three state-run corporations into the bankrupt Awami Mercantile Bank, for which he allegedly received kickbacks. He had to resign in 1999 after allegations of corruption by social reformist Anna Hazare and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in 2014.

Yawatkar said he had complained in 1999 to the state Anti-Corruption Bureau, after which Gholap and his wife were convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment. Currently out on bail, they have filed an appeal in the Bombay high court for suspension of the sentence.

With the case hanging fire for over 10 years, Yawatkar has now filed an interim application seeking permission to assist the public prosecutor, oppose the request of the appellants and demand confirmation of the conviction awarded by the trial court. “I have intervened since I was the original complainant, and a decision must be taken soon,” he told HT. “The matter will now be heard on January 16, 2026.”

The high court has already once rejected the Gholaps’ application for a suspension of their sentence. “During the hearing held on November 28, 2025, my advocates Swaraj Jadhav and Vikas Kumbhar pointed out that no one had appeared on behalf of the appellants,” said Yawatkar.

Considering the absence of the appellants’ counsel and the fact that the appeal has been pending for over 10 years, Justice Shyam C Chandak directed that a notice be issued to the appellants’ lawyers to ensure their presence at the next hearing. Yavatkar’s intervention application aims to ensure that the appeal is decided at the earliest, especially since an order for expediting the hearing has already been issued in 2019.

Gholap, an MLA from 1990 to 2014, is an inveterate party-hopper. Part of the undivided Shiv Sena, he stayed with Uddhav Thackeray when Eknath Shinde split the party but left to join Shinde’s Sena in 2024. Subsequently he returned to the Sena (UBT) but in 2025 quit again and joined the BJP.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Gholap said he was “opposed to the decision of conviction” and was “innocent”. I have told my lawyers to file a defamation case against Yawatkar,” he said.