MUMBAI, October 3: The Dudhat Commision today refused to admit as evidence a video cassette presented by controversial Shiv Sena leader Shashikant Sutar alleging high-handed behaviour by social worker Anna Hazare.The commission, which is probing charges of corruption against Sutar, also played as testimony the song Hoto pain sacchai rahti hai aur dil mein safai rahti hain, the title track from Raj Kapoor's black and white classic Jis Desh Main Ganga Bahti Hain to prove Sutar's contention that the property which was alleged by Anna Hazare to have been acquired recently actually belonged to Sutar since 1957.After seeing both the tapes, Dudhat rejected Sutar's submission about Anna Hazare's saying: ``To take cognisance of charges of highhandedness against Hazare is beyond the commission's scope. As per the terms of reference, it is beyond my purview to probe any charge against Hazare. It is not a subject matter of scrutiny before the commission. I am only concerned with the charges made against Sutar,'' observed Justice Dudhat.The two tapes were presented by Sutar in a bid to bolster his claim of innocence. Following a request made by Sutar's lawyer, Dudhat himself viewed the tapes in the presence of officials of the commission and a section of the media.The hour-long cassette on Hazare contained interviews of Gangadhar Reskar and some villagers from Parner tehsil of Ahmednagar district. The villagers alleged that Hazare had virtually declined to help them when they were facing a crisis. Another villager informed that he became bankrupt after he accepted Hazare's advice.Sutar also submitted that Hazare's allegation that he had acquired a bungalow at Pune after he was inducted into the state cabinet was not just baseless, but false. He said the house mentioned by Hazare was part of his ancestral property. ``The shooting for the film Jis Desh Mein. starring Raj Kapoor and Vaijayanthimala was done at that bungalow way back in 1957,'' he said, adding that since the film was shot in `57, it was clear that the house existed much before that year. Dudhat asked Sutar to submit a note in connection with the ancestral property.Following a series of complaints by Hazare, the government had appointed Justice S W Puranik to probe charges of corruption against Sutar and the then Irrigation Minister Mahadev Shivankar. Hazare had alleged that Sutar has assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and there was rampant corruption in the transfers ordered by him when he was Minister for Agriculture and Horticulture.While Shivankar was acquitted, Justice Puranik recommended a high-level probe against Sutar. The alliance government had then appointed the Dudhat Commision on the recommendation of the Puranik Committee under the Commission of Inquiry Act to probe charges of corruption against Sutar.When asked if he would summon Hazare, Dudhat said so far he had sent three letters to Hazare through the Ahmednagar district collector, but there was no response from him. ``Hazare urged me to initiate Sutar's prosecution under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act,'' Dudhat said, adding, had Hazare appeared before the commission, the inquiry would have become more meaningful.``I have kept the entire work of the commission transparent. It had also issued public notices in all the leading newspapers, but there was no response,'' Dudhat pointed out.Dudhat also informed that the work would be completed before October 5, the last date for the commission, while the report would be submitted to the alliance government by October 15.
