Reported by Sharad Vyas in Timesofindia.indiatimes.com on Aug 1, 2012
Cops get BJP ‘proof’ against NCP ministers - The Times of India

MUMBAI: A delegation from the BJP on Tuesday submitted to the Mumbai police 2,600 pages which reportedly support graft allegations against two senior NCP leaders—water resources minister Sunil Tatkare and public works minister Chhagan Bhujbal.

The pages, which the BJP claims contain details of bank accounts, balance sheets as well as intra-company transactions used to route black money through a web of companies, were handed over to the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police.

The party claims the pages detail how benami firms were created, the ministers allegedly abused their positions, made abnormal donations to their own trusts, money was laundered, taxes evaded and funds transferred through Hawala.

Additional commissioner of police (EOW) Rajwardhan Sinha told TOI, "We will decide our future course of action in this matter after a close scrutiny of documentary evidence provided to us."

The documents were procured under the Right to Information Act by BJP national secretary Kirit Somaiya and MLA Devendra Fadnavis, who have threatened to file a public interest litigation (PIL) if the EOW fails to file a chargesheet in the graft case by August 15.

"Enough evidence has been provided to the EOW. There is no reason why it can't file a chargesheet by August 15. If not, we'll file a PIL against Tatkare on August 16 and Bhujbal a month later," Fadnavis said. The duo has already approached the anti-corruption bureau with a complaint and the agency has assured a probe against Tatkare and Bhujbal.

Tatkare's role has come under the scanner for the reported inflated cost of dam projects handled by the irrigation department. The state water resources department also came under scrutiny after TOI's recent expose on highly-inflated costs of irrigation projects.

Bhujbal has been facing heat over allegations that he and his family members had benefited from contracting work at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi. He had threatened to take his detractors to court if they continued to attack him without any documentary evidence. "I have all the documentary evidence and dare anyone to challenge these papers in court," said Somaiya.