Cong squirms with embarrassment as SEC pursues matter

Cong squirms with embarrassment as SEC pursues matter

The Maharashtra Congress’ discomfort over the sensational seizure of Rs 1 crore — admittedly the money that had emanated from its party fund — in Amravati district mounted on Monday, as the State Election Commission sought reports from the District Collector and the local Municipal Commissioner over the incident.

A day after the Gudgenagar police in Amravati district intercepted a Ford Endeavour car and seized Rs 1 crore on Sunday, the SEC took serious cognisance of the incident and said it would initiate action after going through the reports from the district administration and the Municipal commissioner.

Confirming that she had called for reports from the Amravati district Collector and the Municipal commissioner, State Election Commissioner, Neela Satyanarayan, said:“The incident is serious. The local police officers have sent me a brief report confirming that they have seized Rs 1 crore. Since I do not have all the details, I cannot proceed in the matter. That’s why I have asked the Amravati District Collector and the local Municipal Commissioner to send me detailed reports immediately" Satyanarayan said that if the Congress fails to give an account for the money seized in Amravati, the SEC would initiate action against the party concerned.

Meanwhile, the Amravati police have arrested two persons — driver Prakash Masram and one Ashish Bodhankar —in connection with seizure of Rs 1 crore from their car. “In the absence of any proper explanation, we have booked the two under Sections 41(1)(d) of CrPc (for possession of stolen property). We have informed the SEC and the Income Tax department as well,” Amravati Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Sunday evening.

Significantly enough, Kumar formally confirmed that he had received a fax from the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee confirming the amount belonged to the party.

Kumar’s confirmation came after Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar indirectly hit out at his party’s ruling ally, the Congress, alleging that the local police commissioner was “under pressure” not to make the details of the incident public till the Amravati civic poll was over.

On a day when both Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and MPCC president Manikrao Thakre confirmed that the seized money belonged to their party, party sources said that Minister of State for Finance Rajendra Mulak had sent Rs 1 crore by car to the party MLA from Amravati Raosaheb Shekawat, who incidentally is the son of President Pratibha Patil.

Raosaheb, who is spear-heading the Congress’ campaign for the Amravati Municipal Corporation, was to distribute Rs 1 lakh each among 87 party candidates contesting the February 16 poll and use the remaining Rs 13 lakh for overall poll campaign.

Clarifying matters himself, Raosaheb told the media: “We have been requesting the MPCC for the last four to five days to give us some money to fund the campaign of our party candidates. After that, we received a letter from the MPCC saying that it is making arrangements to send us money enough to pay Rs 1 lakh to party candidates. When the money was being brought, police intercepted the vehicle when there was no need for them to do so”.

Meanwhile, the BJP charged that the Congress was using “money power” to win the local body polls in Maharashtra, especially in an Assembly constituency represented by President Pratibha Patil's son Raosaheb Shekhawat.