The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, on Thursday said he would move a breach-of-privilege motion against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
“On Monday, we will seek permission from the Speaker to move a breach-of-privilege motion against Mr. Fadnavis,” Mr. Vikhe-Patil said. “He is shielding his tainted ministers by giving false statements in the Assembly. The Chief Minister says his ministers are not involved in any fraud. He is cheating the State by defending his ministers. We will also approach the courts.”
He presented a copy of the first information report (FIR) filed against Labour Minister Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a loan defaulter case for being a party to a criminal conspiracy to cheat the Union Bank of India and the Bank of Maharashtra. The FIR said Patil-Nilangekar diverted funds received from the bank to purposes other than those for which the funds were sanctioned. It also said that the accused tampered with certain pages of the original documents of the mortgage.
Countering the CM’s claim — that the minister was only the guarantor who mortgaged his immovable property with the banks for the repayment of loans extended to M/s Victoria Agro Food Processing Pvt Ltd — Mr. Vikhe- Patil said the company itself is registered at the same address as that of the minister’s house in Latur. The directors of the company include the minister’s sister and her husband.
Prior to 2014 Assembly polls, the Vaidyanath Urban Co-op Bank Ltd., which has lodged a complaint against Victoria Power, had sent a letter to the State Election Commission detailing the case, and it had also alleged that Mr. Patil-Nilangekar is one of the partners of the power company.
“[Mr. Patil-Nilangekar] mortgaged the property with the nationalised banks and tampered with the documents,” Mr. Vikhe-Patil said. “When the fraud came to light, the banks called the CBI to investigate and he is one of the accused in the FIR.”
Mr. Vikhe-Patil questioned the CBI’s silence for over a year after filing the FIR and announced that the details will be sought from the investigating agency.
