Anti-corruption Activist Anna Hazare has moved the Bombay high court seeking a CBI inquiry into what he termed a "Rs 25,000 crore sugar cooperative factories scam".
Hazare filed two civil PILs and a criminal PIL seeking a CBI probe. The criminal PIL is listed for hearing on January 6 before a bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka.
The petitions alleged that fraud had been committed in governance by first burdening sugar cooperative factories with debts and thereafter selling these sick units at a throwaway price, causing loss of Rs 25,000 crore to the government, cooperative sector and members of public.
In the petitions, Hazare has made three broad charges against politicians who ruled Maharashtra from 2004 to 2014 and the state government controlled by these politicians. Maharashtra was ruled by the Congress-NCP alliance and Sharad Pawar was Union agriculture minister during this period.
The petitions also demanded an inquiry by a Special Investigating Team (SIT) into alleged role of "politicians into the sugar cooperative scam, including NCP president and former Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and his nephew and former irrigation minister Ajit Pawar". The petitions name both members of the Pawar family as respondents.
The petitions further demanded an CBI inquiry into the allegations of corruption and misuse of government and cooperative funds involving lease and sale of cooperative sugar factories which caused Rs 25,000 crore loss. The petitioner stated that the statistics mentioned in the petition have been collected through RTI.
PTI inputs
