Scam casts shadow on BJP’s RS candidate

Ajay Sancheti, 46, heads a company that has a turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore, but what’s haunting the industrialist, who was the BJP’s nominee for Rajya Sabha polls for Maharashtra, is a 600 sq ft flat with a sale value of Rs 60 lakh in Adarsh society.

Ajay Sancheti, 46, heads a company that has a turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore, but what’s haunting the industrialist, who was the BJP’s nominee for Rajya Sabha polls for Maharashtra, is a 600 sq ft flat with a sale value of Rs 60 lakh in Adarsh society.

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Born in a family that has been connected to the RSS for generations, Sancheti is a confidante of BJP national president Nitin Gadkari and dabbles in real estate and infrastructure through his Nagpur-based company, SMS Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.

Sancheti has come under the shadow of the Adarsh scam after it was found that Sudhakar Madke, a driver employed with his Nagpur firm and earning Rs 8,500 a month, owned a flat in the upscale residential high-rise.

Political rivals, including Congress leaders, allege that Madke is actually Sancheti’s front man. Three of Sancheti’s relatives had applied for membership to Adarsh, but their applications were turned down in 2003. Subsequently, in 2009, his distant relative, Paramveer Sancheti, was made a member of the society and allotted a flat.

Sancheti had earlier fended off allegations about Madke’s membership claiming that he was not involved in any wrongdoing and that his company gives loans to needy employees. He, however, did not respond to repeated phone calls on Thursday.