| ACB sees graft plot in Rs3-crore slum rehabilitation
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has unearthed a Rs3-crore scandal at Sai Siddhi Vinayak Co-operative Housing Society in Borivali/Kandivli region. The scandal allegedly involved a section of Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) office-bearers, promoters and BMC officials.
Thirteen people are allegedly termed accused following raids carried out on Thursday at 18 different places across Bandra, Borivali, Kandivli, Malad and parts of Thane. The raids were restricted to SRA offices, houses of rent collectors, BMC officials and some private building developers, sources said. “We will interrogate the accused (which include public servants) and consider possibilities of initiating disproportionate assets case against them,” ACB deputy inspector general (Mumbai region) Pradnya Sarvade told DNA. ACB sources said the raids were the first of its kind in unearthing malpractices Probe into the SRA project misappropriations began after Arun Ramavatar Pathak had filed an application against the accused in the ACB special court. The court, in turn, directed the investigating agency to inquire into the matter. Charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating (furnishing fake banking documents and financial certificates) and using public office for personal gains are brought against BMC ward officer/assistant municipal commissioner Narendra Barde and three developers of the housing society, Prakash Ghadiyar, Kiran Mahadik and Ramesh Bhandari. Similar charges are also being made against Netaji Shinde and Bajrang Pawaskar – chairman and vice-chairman of the Siddhi Vinayak housing society – and against retired BMC rent collector Subash Parulekar. Irregularities pointed out by the ACB in the investigation papers, copies of which are in possession of DNA, said the accused people had mentioned fictitious structures in the slum records. ACB investigations revealed 95 “non-existent tenants on the controversial plot. ACB sources said the documents’ authenticity was not scrutinised before being |