Former Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh was on Monday questioned by the Special Investigating Team for nearly five hours in connection with allegations of assets disproportionate to his income.
Mr Singh was questioned in the Mumbai police headquarters for an hour, after which he was taken to an undisclosed location and questioned for four more hours to avoid media glare.
Activist Sanjay Tiwari has filed a PIL in the Bombay high court questioning the wealth amassed illegally by Mr Singh, his wife Malti Devi, son Narendra Mohan, daughter Sunita, son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Their wealth allegedly exceeded `350 crore. The high court had directed the police to treat Mr Tiwari’s petition as an FIR.
“Various questions related to his properties were asked and he was cooperative in his replies,” said an official, without divulging the exact posers. Asked if he would be called again, the officer replied in the negative and added that Mr Singh’s family members might be called for recording statements at a later date.
The Supreme Court had, in September, granted eight weeks time to the SIT to complete its probe into the alleged amassing of wealth disproportionate to the known sources of income of Mr Singh. The court had asked Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh to head the team, replacing Arup Patnaik, who was elevated to the rank of DGP recently.
The Maharashtra government has already submitted to the Supreme Court, two reports on the SIT probe in sealed covers on the alleged benami assets of Mr Singh and his family.
The apex court had earlier refused to stay the probe, but put an interim stay on attaching and seizing the properties of Mr Singh and his family. The SC has restrained the politician and his family from “alienating, transferring or dealing with properties” enumerated in the petition during the pendency of the case and directed them to file an affidavit giving an undertaking for the same.