Season of clean chits

Shailesh GaikwadStrap for online: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), famous for cracking complex financial crimes in the past, has given a clean chit to a fwe BJP leaders in recent weeks

Shailesh Gaikwad

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Strap for online: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), famous for cracking complex financial crimes in the past, has given a clean chit to a fwe BJP leaders in recent weeks. First it was Pravin Darekar, former leader of the opposition in the legislative council, then Kirit Somaiya, former Member of Parliament and latest is Prasad Lad, member of legislative council

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The last few weeks have been good for BJP leaders who were facing police investigation in various cases. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), famous for cracking complex financial crimes in the past, has given a clean chit to some of them. First it was Pravin Darekar, former leader of the opposition in the legislative council, then Kirit Somaiya, former Member of Parliament and latest is Prasad Lad, member of legislative council.

Earlier this week, the EOW gave a clean chit to Lad in a cheating case registered against him in connection with a 2014 civic contract.

In its closure report, the agency said there was no material to proceed against Lad and that the dispute was civil. Lad was booked by the Malad police on December 7, 2014, as a partner in the BVG-Krystal Joint Venture for cheating and breach of trust on a complaint lodged by a businessman. The case was later transferred to EOW for further investigation.

This came days after the EOW filed a closure report in a case of alleged misappropriation of funds collected to save decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Vikrant from going to the scrapyard. The EOW did not find any substance in the allegations that Somaiya and his son Neil collected money for Vikrant but did not deposit the same with the government. Earlier, this month, EOW dropped a 2015 case against Darekar. The case was related to alleged financial irregularities in the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. Darekar was then chairman of the bank. The EOW said there was no evidence of financial irregularities. In this instance, the case had been filed following a complaint by Advocate Vivekanand Gupta, BJP secretary from Mumbai unit, against Darekar and other directors of the bank in 2015. Lad and Darekar are considered to be close confidantes of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

While the BJP leaders in the state seem to be getting cleared of the cases against them, those in the BJP ally, Balsahebanchi Shiv Sena, don’t seem to be as lucky. The investigations against them initiated by the Enforcement Directorate or other central agencies are not over yet. Most of them are legislators, one is a member of Parliament and another a former parliamentarian. The probes against them had started when they were in Shiv Sena. A few days ago, some of them even met Shinde and aired their grievances in this regard. The response was not very assuring.

Interestingly, two IPS officers Deven Bharati and Rashmi Shukla who were facing probe in different cases have also got clean chits by the investigating agencies.

A different culture

A senior minister in the Fadnavis government is finding it difficult to adjust to the functioning of the BJP. The minister, who came from another party, some time ago and now handles a key department, has a retired IAS officer to advise him in various matters. Besides, his son seems to be interfering in the functioning of the department. According to whispers in the corridors of Mantralaya, the son used to be approached by officers seeking postings in the department held by his father and also those who would want their pending matters to be resolved. When the whispers got louder, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had to intervene and tell the minister that such a system would not be tolerated in the party. The deputy chief minister also told the son that the latter’s jurisdiction was elsewhere and he should be focussing on the same and leave the department to his minister father.

Crossing the boundaries

A senior officer working as a deputy commissioner in the state election commission was transferred by the state government recently. Routine transfer? In the face of it, yes, considering the fact that the particular officer was in the same position for several years. However, the reason behind his transfer was that the chief minister’s office was not happy over the way the officer handled the ward delimitation issue for the civic polls. The stand of the Shinde-Fadnavis government on redrawing boundaries of electoral wards in certain areas is different from the MVA regime. The whole issue is significant for the ruling alliance especially in areas such as Mumbai where it turned down the Thackeray government’s decision to add more electoral wards to the existing 227. As the issue was being discussed in the CMO, an officer opined that it was not advisable to touch officers serving on quasi constitutional bodies such as state election commission but the same was turned down. “They need to get a clear message what the government wants,” the officer was told.