By IANS,
Mumbai : Maharashtra opposition parties Friday accused the Democratic Front state government of attempting to shield former minister and former city party chief Kripashankar Singh, who is currently being probed by the Mumbai police on corruption charges.
Major parties like the Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) attacked the Congress for allegedly adopting delay tactics and not initiating action against Singh for nearly a week after the Bombay High Court ordered his prosecution Feb 22.
Attacking the state government for delaying action, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut demanded to know what the police were doing for so many days after the court orders.
“Now, Singh has gone into hiding…There should have been immediate action against him as in the case of A. Raja or Suresh Kalmadi,” Raut said.
He claimed that the action initiated against Singh is “merely an eyewash, a contempt of court” and alleged that both Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre were protecting Kripashankar Singh, who is a former minister of state for home.
Senior BJP activist Vinod Tawde, who is leader of Opposition in the legislative council, also questioned the delay despite the Bombay High Court’s orders, which permitted no relief to Singh.
“I am wondering whether (the delay) it was to give him an opportunity to move the Supreme Court. The police have still not arrested him,” Tawde said.
On his part, MNS chief Raj Thackeray minced no words when he described Singh as “a dalal” (power-broker) in state politics.
“It is because of Singh’s connections with New Delhi that he is being protected. Many more things could come out after he is arrested,” Thackeray said.
He pointed out that Singh was being used by Congress leaders for gaining access to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and top party functionary Ahmed Patel.
The MNS leader pointed out that Singh raked up the “north Indian” issue in Mumbai while acquiring properties in and around Mumbai.
“How can people like (Samajwadi Party state chief) Abu Asim Azmi win legislative assembly elections from two constituencies simultaneously? It is our Marathi leaders who have made them (Azmi and Singh) big here,” Thackeray said.
The Congress-led Democratic Front government immediately refuted the allegations, saying that police proceedings were already under way as per the high court directions.
Similarly, Home Minister R.R. Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that there was “no question of protecting” anybody in the matter.
“Since the Mumbai police commissioner has been directed to investigate the case, it shows that the court has reposed faith in us. Instructions have already been given to police to proceed in the matter strictly as per the court orders,” Patil said.
Rejecting the opposition charge that the delayed action had given leeway to Singh, Patil said the police would also solicit the help of technical and financial experts in their investigations in the case.
Since Friday morning, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Special Investigating Team (SIT) of Mumbai police have initiated a series of raids on the residential and commercial properties of Singh and his family members in and around Mumbai. At least 19 premises were searched and some were sealed by Friday evening.