Mumbai, Aug 19 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking probe into an alleged Rs 50,000 crore land scam in Maharashtra’s Raigad district and demanding action against deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena minister Sanjay Shirsat.
While Shirsat has already denied the allegations, the ruling BJP dismissed them too and dared Raut to substantiate his claims by furnishing proof.
In the letter, Raut claimed that a staggering 4,078 acres of forest land in Raigad was illegally transferred to a certain Biwalkar family. The family, deemed ineligible for 30 years, was arbitrarily deemed eligible by the Urban Development Ministry headed by Shinde and government planning agency CIDCO, he alleged.
Shiv Sena minister Sanjay Shirsat was then chairman of CIDCO.
The land allocation was executed in a hurried manner, alleged Raut.
On the other hand, thousands of project-affected people in the region do not get land under the CIDCO’s allocation scheme, he said.
A huge bribe exchanged hands during the transaction, the Rajya Sabha MP alleged.
“I demand, on behalf of project-affected people of Raigad district, that Shinde and Shirsat be sacked from the cabinet and a case be registered regarding this Rs 50,000 crore land scam with an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED),” Raut said in the letter to Shah.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar had levelled the same allegation on Monday, though he pegged the alleged scam at Rs 5,000 crore.
Shirsat had denied that there were any irregularities.
“There was no agreement, or allotment of land in the matter. Decisions (of CIDCO) are taken by the entire board and not by one person,” the minister told PTI from London.
Maharashtra BJP communication chief Navnath Ban on Tuesday challenged Sanjay Raut to back his charges with proof.
“All he does is make accusations in front of TV cameras without producing evidence. Has he ever gone to court or police? Has he ever taken even one of his allegations to the logical end? `Hit and run’ is his style,” Ban added.
Raut himself is an accused in the Patra Chawl project case, the BJP leader pointed out. PTI PR ND KRK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.