Nationalist Congress Party’s minister of state for transport Gulabrao Deokar was arrested on Monday for his alleged involvement in a 1997 Gharkul Housing Scam at Jalgaon. The guardian minister for the district was released on bail of personal bond of `50,000. The minister has tendered his resignation to the NCP pradesh office.
The arrest of Mr Deokar, who was the nagradykasha in 1997 when the scheme was launched and alleged irregularities took place, was on the card since the arrest of Shiv Sena MLA Sureshdada Jain in the same case on March 11. As many as 25 other members of municipal corporation during the period of scam were also arrested in the scam, prior to the arrest of Mr Deokar.
The scam in the 1994 scheme of building of 11,402 houses was unearthed by the then collector of Jalgaon Praivin Gedam, who revealed that only 15 per cent of the houses were actually built and allotted to the true beneficiaries.
Mr Deokar, who was a member of the Jalgaon Municipal Council between 1995 and 2000, was summoned to the Zilla Peth police station at Jalgaon on Saturday but did not remained present on the grounds of ailing health. He visited the police station on Monday when he was shown arrested.
While, the magistrate remanded Mr Deokar to judicial custody till May 30, the session court late in the day granted bail on personal bond.
Additional superintendent of police Ishu Sindhu, who is probing the `46-crore scam, had earlier summoned 46 former corporators, including Deokar. However, only 25 turned up on Saturday and they were all arrested.
A construction tender was floated by the Jalgaon Municipal Council in 1997 for the housing scheme.