Former DGP summoned in multi-crore corruption case

Former director general of police P C Pande and a retired police inspector,MM Patel,have been summoned by a special ACB Court in Ahmedabad to appear on October 11,in connection with a multi-crore corruption case.

The officers have been charged of illegally shielding the accused in the Rs 526-crore case,which was investigated by the Anti-corruption Bureau.

Pande was the Director of ACB at the relevant time whereas,whereas Patel was posted as the police inspector in Ahmedabad.

In 2002,one Ramsagar Sinh Parihar from Ahmedabad had lodged a complaint against the proprietors of Maradia Chemicals and bank officials alleging that the proprietors has taken loans worth crores from various nationalised banks and did not repay the amount.

Parihar had alleged high-ranking bank officials were involved in the scam. The ACB court had ordered a probe into the case.

This order was challenged by the accused in the Gujarat High Court (HC). The HC,however,refused to intervene and turned down the petition. The accused moved Supreme Court,where it was again dismissed.

Even after HC,SC orders,the ACB — falling under the direct supervision of Pande – filed a closure report in the ACB court stating that no offence is made out.

This closure report was rejected by the ACB court and process was initiated against all the accused.

Following this,Parihar lodged a separate complaint against Pande and Patel in court through his lawyer,Vinod Brahmbhatt,alleging that they have indulged into corruption and had tried to shield the accused by filing closure report despite HC,SC orders.

Issuing summons to Pande and Patel,Special ACB judge P B Desai observed that the closure report filed by the two even five months after the orders passed by the Supreme Court is ‘disturbing’ and that the two accused ‘have shown utter disregard for the orders of the Supreme Court and High Court.’ The court has also ordered to allocate a fresh number to the proceedings against the two.