Shiv Sena MLA and former state minister Suresh Jain was arrested around midnight on Saturday in the 1994 Jalgaon housing colony scam. The arrest of minister for state Gulabrao Deokar is also said to be possible any time soon.
Jain was the fifth person to have been arrested in the Gharkul scam in Jalgaon revealed by a complaint filed in February 2006. While Jain has been remanded to police custody, the Opposition has already been demanding the arrest of Mr Deokar.
Jain, the high-profile MLA from the Sena, anticipating an arrest, was caught while trying to escape to Indore. The police intercepted his car at Dharangaon and brought Jain back to Jalgaon. He was produced before the holiday magistrate at Jalgaon who remanded him to police custody till March 19.
The scheme floated in 1994 was about building as many as 11,424 houses at nine locations in the city. The scheme was under the scanner right from the word go but due to intervention of influential people, till February 3, 2006, no former complaint was recorded by the police.
During the investigation of the case so far, it has been revealed that many of the nine plots, which had been earmarked for the scheme, did not even have the non-agriculture (NA) clearance. There were several other such breaches of rules and regulations along the way. The Jalgaon police has so far interrogated as many as 13 persons in connection with the case. As many as 90 persons are said to be involved in the `29.59-crore scam and this includes as many as 12 present and former Nagarpalika members, officials, contractors and other prominent citizens. Deokar who was former nagaradhyakshya of Jalgaon is one of them.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has already started mounting pressure for the arrest of Deokar. Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse, also from Jalgaon, has been vociferously demanding for his arrest.