Maharashtra panel report on NCP leader Eknath Khadse’s land deal missing?

Even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating a case of money laundering against senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse in connection with a Pune land deal during his tenure as revenue minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government, a drama unfolded in the state secretariat on Tuesday after news of a probe report in the case being misplaced surfaced.

The report was submitted by an inquiry commission under retired judge Dinkar Zoting to investigate the allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest in the land deal by Khadse.

On Tuesday, a news report claimed that the report had been misplaced, leading to a blame-game in the state, with Opposition BJP quick to suspect that it was done to save Khadse, who joined NCP last October. Congress minister Aslam Shaikh said they will find out the report if at all it has been misplaced.

There was no response from the government till late on Tuesday. Chief secretary Sitaram Kunte did not respond to calls and messages. The chief minister’s office (CMO) did not deny or clarify on the claims. There were also two versions in the general administration department (GAD). “It is not true that the report is misplaced. Nothing of this sort has ever happened,” said a senior GAD official, requesting anonymity. Another GAD official said, “A copy of the report was missing but we have its second copy.”

The commission had been appointed by then CM Devendra Fadnavis. It was asked to probe whether the land belonged to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation – a state subsidiary – and if the deal was illegal. Though the commission submitted its report in July 2017 and was to be tabled in the legislature, it was never made public during Fadnavis’s tenure. Khadse himself had demanded that the report be made public.

Leader of Opposition in the legislative Council Pravin Darekar said, “It appears that those in the state government want to bring Khadse in trouble. If there was a BJP government, we may have faced accusations of misplacing the report as the commission has reportedly given Khadse a clean chit.”

Shaikh said someone is trying to settle scores with Khadse and hence, the senior leader is facing the probe, based on which he was sidelined. “After Khadse joined NCP, they [BJP] are trying to harass him through new means. Taking revenge from a leader like Khadse, who spent his entire life for the party and parted ways due to some reasons, is not fair,” Shaikh said.