Mumbai: A year after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) registered a criminal case in the Rs 327 crore Kondhane dam scam, it submitted its 3,000-page chargesheet in the case on Monday in the Thane sessions court, mentioning that it is still probing the role of former water resources minister and state Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sunil Tatkare in the irregularities.
The ACB has not named Tatkare as an accused in the chargesheet or in its case First Information Report (FIR). The ACB had, however, last year sent a questionnaire to the NCP leader by post.
The ACB allegedly found that on August 16, 2011, then-water resources secretary and Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KIDC) managing director E.B. Patil had signed the dam's proposal, which was later signed by Tatkare.
The ACB said in the chargesheet that it is ascertaining Tatkare's role in the ongoing probe.
The chargesheet was filed against seven KIDC officials. In the last page of the chargesheet, ACB officials have mentioned under CrPC section 173 (8) that shall be deemed to preclude further investigation in respect of an offence.
The Rs 327-crore Kondhane irrigation project in the district of Raigad in Konkan was executed during the tenure of Tatkare as water resources minister. Tatkare was summoned twice for questioning in 2015, after the ACB team suspended four engineers of the same project and wanted to find out Tatkare’s ‘role’.
At that time, ACB officials had said that Tatkare did not come to give any statement to the ACB. Officials also said that Tatkare did not send appropriate answers for the questions the ACB had sent to him.
