Padmasinh bail: NCP mum, supporters celebrate in Osmanabad

Supporters of suspended NCP leader Padamsinh Patil, arrested for his alleged involvement in the 2006 murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar, celebrated in home town Osmanabad after he was granted bail by a sessions court on Friday.

Supporters of suspended NCP leader Padamsinh Patil, arrested for his alleged involvement in the 2006 murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar, celebrated in home town Osmanabad after he was granted bail by a sessions court on Friday.

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“The court order has come as a big relief, ahead of the October 13 Assembly election where his son Rana Jagjitsinh is contesting from Osmanabad district. We are celebrating,” a Patil supporter from Marathwada region said.

However, NCP leaders declined to comment on the development. State NCP spokesperson Madan Bafna told PTI that “we will comment only after the final order of the court.”

Rana Jagjitsinh, at present an MLC and a minister of state in the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra, was named by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP as nominee for the Assembly poll.

“Doctor (69-year-old Patil is known by that name in the district) getting bail will boost his son’s campaign,” he said.

Patil’s arrest months before the Assembly polls, came as a big embarrassment to his party which is a constituent of the ruling UPA at the Centre. He was elected from Osmanabad seat in the Lok Sabha polls.

The CBI, in its 5000-page chargesheet, has named Patil as the prime accused who hatched the conspiracy to murder Nimbalkar due to political and business rivalry.