Cases withdrawn upon recommendation of sub-committee of politicians formed by state to look into them, including one involving three deaths
(Clockwise) Eknath Shinde, Girish Bapat, Dr Ranjeet Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar
If you ever wondered how politicians get away with crimes so easily, here's a clue: other politicians help them. In little over a year, as many as 41 criminal cases against politicians and party workers have been disposed of on recommendation of a sub-committee of ministers and officials. These cases include damage to property in crores, and one case even resulted in the death of three people.
Eknath Shinde, cabinet minister - PWD (MSRDC, Public Undertaking)
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All 41 cases against political leaders — mostly MLAs and senior party leaders — were scrapped between June 2017 and September 2018, on the basis of a Government Resolution (GR) issued in August 2016. But this is hardly the first time the state has tried to have cases against politicians be quashed. In fact, a petition filed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act has revealed that the state had passed three earlier GRs in similar attempts, meeting failure each time.
Girish Bapat, food and civic supplies minister
So what was different this time? In the three previous tries in 2010, 2015 and March 2016, the government had set up a committee comprising senior cops and a district magistrate. In each of those instances, the committee pointed out that was plenty of evidence in the cases. As a result, the cases were not scrapped.
Fourth time's the charm
With the fourth GR in August 2016, however, the state set up a sub-committee comprising ministers and senior bureaucrats — Minister of Finance and Planning and Forest Department Sudhir Mungantiwar, Food and Civic Supplies Minister Girish Bapat, Cabinet Minister for PWD Shinde, Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule, and Ministers of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar and Dr Ranjeet Patil, along with the then Chief Secretary (Home) and Chief Secretary (Law and Judiciary).
Dr Ranjeet PatiL, minister of state for home (urban)
The committee's job was to recommend cases that met three main conditions — there should not have been any loss of life, damage to property cannot be above R5 lakh, and the case should have been registered before November 2014.
Multiple violations
However, the RTI enquiry filed by activist Shakeel Ahmed has revealed that the committee flouted these conditions as well. There are at least three cases where the damage caused to property was higher than R5 lakh, and there is one case that resulted in the death of three people (see box). Further, there are at least nine cases that were registered post the deadline of November 2014.
Sudhir Mungantiwar, minister of finance and planning
Activist Ahmed said, "It is a huge violation of the law that 41 cases have been withdrawn in the span of a year. In cases which the investigating agencies could not crack for ten years, they took a call in such a short span.
"The law should be equal for everyone. In the Sambhaji Bhide case, [registered in Sangli in 2008, when led a protest against Bollywood film Jodha Akbar), the Chief Minister himself asked to withdraw the case."
Raju Shetti is among those whose cases have been cleared
Copspeak
A senior police officer, who was on the earlier committee on the matter, said, "We recommended that there was huge evidence in our cases, but the committee of cabinet ministers recommended that these cases be withdrawn. In all the cases, no police officials gave the green signal for withdrawal."
Minister says
Sudhir Mungantiwar, minister of finance and planning and forest department, said, "Neither I nor the sub-committee headed by us have the authority to withdraw any cases against anyone. We give suggestions after examining the details of case and, later, the court withdraws the cases." Asked about the violations of the GR's terms, he said, " Three people lost their lives in the Sanjay Bhegade case [see box], but he was fighting for farmers' rights. That is why we suggested to withdraw this case."
The violations
Nine cases that were registered after November 2014:
. Raju Shetti (MP Swabhimani Paksha) registered with Pune Police
. Prashant Thakur (BJP MLA) registered with Raigad Police
. Abhay Chhajed (Congress leader) registered with Pune police
. Ashish Deshmukh (BJP MLA) registered with Nagpur police
. Kiran Pawaskar (NCP MLA) registered with Mumbai police
. Praful Agrwal (BJP leader) registered with Gondia police
. Kushendra Shinde (BJP) registered with Raigad police
. Arjun Jadhav (BJP) registered with Nashik police
. Appasaheb Pawar (NCP) registered with Kolhapur police
One case in which three people died:
In a 2011 case registered against Sanjay Bhegade (BJP MLA), he had led a protest for farmers' rights that resulted in the death of three and damage worth around R60 to 70 lakh.
Politicians who caused damage higher than R5 lakh:
. A 2016 case against Raju Shetti in which property worth Rs 12 lakh was damaged
. A 2009 case against Manisha Patil (BJP) in which property worth Rs 15 lakh was damaged
. In a against Vikas Matkari (BJP), property worth Rs 5.75 lakh was damaged
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