​Anti-Corruption Bureau raids BJP MP Sanjay Kakade office

Pune – Sleuths from the Thane unit of Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday raided office of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade. 

Earlier on Friday the ACB had  booked Kakade Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (KIPL) as one of the accused for alleged irregularities in the tender for Sion-Panvel highway and toll collection. Kakade was one of the founding directors of the company.

The raids were conducted at KIPL’s office located off the J M road and at IVRCL’s office at Sujata society in Koregaon Park. Sources said that huge sets of documents have been seized.

Talking to Times of India, Kakade said that ACB had recorded his statement before filling the case but it was incomplete.

The case has been registered against the then Chief Engineer Prakash Mamdapure, the former Superintending Engineer Kisan Mane and the then Executive Engineer Rajendra Javanjal, for offences including criminal misconduct, cheating and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code and certain sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“The accused had conspired to favour particular contractors ie KIPL and IVRCL together in an (special purpose vehicle )- Sion Panvel Tollways Pvt Ltd (SPTPL). This helped them in getting the contract of Sion Panvel Highway,” the ACB alleged.

The Indian Express reported that in  November 2008, Chhagan Bhujbal, the then state PWD minister, had proposed to widen the 20 km Sion-Panvel Highway, with a new toll naka at Kamothe. Following this, a tender notice was issued. In 2009, IVRCL-KIPL, a joint venture-Sion-Panvel Tollways Ltd-bagged the contract. They offered the lowest viability gap fund of Rs 390 crore.

Subsequently, activist Pravin Wategaonkar filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking investigation into the alleged corrupt practices in the tender process.

The petitioner had alleged that KIPL, which had no prior experience in such projects, was awarded the contract. In March this year, the Bombay HC had asked the ACB to complete its open inquiry within three months.