ACB closes 9 probes, draws fire, says not linked to Ajit

Ajit Pawar, who as minister in Congress-NCP governments in the past had handled Irrigation and Water Resources departments, had not been named as an accused in any of the FIRs. But in November 2018, Sanjay Barve, the then ACB DG, in an affidavit before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, had said that Pawar had intervened in the process of award of contracts for irrigation projects.

Barve’s affidavit claimed that rules were tweaked to grant mobilisation advance to contractors, and that approval had been granted to irregular escalation of project costs.

Under Opposition fire for shutting down the enquiries, the ACB put out a statement that the nine enquiries were not related to Pawar. ACB chief Param Bir Singh said: “The enquiries that have been closed today are not related to the main irrigation scam in which FIRs have been registered.”

The ACB press note on the issue clarifies: “None of these 9 enquiries is in respect of Shri Ajit Pawar”.

In a statement, the ACB said: “None of these nine enquiries is in respect of Shri Ajit Pawar (a former chairman of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation).”

It said it had initiated open enquiries into 2,654 tenders for 45 projects of the VIDC following two PILs in 2012 before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. The ACB said it had completed open enquiries into 212 tenders, registered 24 FIRs and filed chargesheets in five cases. Departmental enquiries, it said, had been recommended in 28 enquiries on administrative lapses, and these were sent to the VIDC over the past year-and-half.

The statement said: “45 open enquiries had been closed as no offence was disclosed during the enquiry. This order of closure of nine enquiries on November 25 is part of the 45 enquiries that were closed. The enquiry reports were received from ACB units for closure in the head office between 2-5 months ago. These nine enquiries were closed as no criminal offence was made out after enquiry against anyone.”

The next date of hearing in the court is November 28. At an earlier hearing, the court had pulled up the police for the slow pace of investigation into alleged irregularities.

The first offence in the case was registered on February 23, 2016, and a chargesheet was filed on September 3 that year in a sessions court. On the directions of the High Court, two Special Investigation Teams were formed on April 4, 2018. On August 23, 2018, the High Court directed that all cases should be disposed in three months.