M'rashtra sacks tainted IAS officer

In what comes as a shocker, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has sought a report from the Maharashtra government's chief secretary on the allegations of assets disproportionate to known sources of income of Radheyshyam Mopalwar, a 1995-batch IAS officer.

Mopalwar was currently the vice chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and was handling several key projects including the Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway, the dream project of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

As the opposition Congress-NCP cornered the BJP-Shiv Sena saffron alliance government on the alleged dealings of Mopalwar, Fadnavis on Thursday said that he has been divested of the porfolio. "Mopalwar will not be in the post till the probe is over," Fadnavis said in identical statements in  the Assembly and the Council.

However, he said that the allegations of corruption of Mopalwar does not pertains to his tenure and was in fact when the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government was in power. "It was during your tenure that he got plum posts," the chief minister told the Opposition benches.

On Thursday, the chief minister  had announced a one-month time frame for the probe - after audio clips of Mopalwar purportedly demanding money could be heard. 

The opposition also kept on demanding the resignation of housing minister Prakash Mehta, whose name has figured in different scams.

"Mehta stands exposed....he has made notings on files even without consulting the chief minister," leader of opposition in Assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress said. "We want that Mehta resigns or be made to resign and Mopalwar be suspended," he said.

"Why there are two yardsticks....on one hand while (the the revenue minister) Eknath Khadse was asked to resign, Mehta is still in office," former deputy chief minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar said.

Finance and planning minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, however, intervened and said that Khadse resigned on his own. "He himself tendered his resignation," he said.

The oppostion also displayed a letter of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Greviances and Pensions, to chief secretary. The letter, addresed by an under secretary, stated: "I am directed to enclose herewith a copy of a complaint dated 15 January, 2017, against Radheshyam Mopalwar received through Prime Minister's Office from (BJP MLA) Anil Gote on allegations of having disproportionate assets of more than Rs 800 crore."

It directed the Maharashtra government to examine the matter and furnish a report.

"It is shocking.....the letter has been addressed by a BJP MLA. The prime minister (Narendra Modi) promises of a transparent administration...why is the chief minister trying to save him.....you make him (Mopalwar) the chief secretary...we have no issues, but remove him as the needle of suspicion points towards him," said former finance minister Jayant Patil of the NCP.

Fadnavis, however, turned tables and targetted the Opposition benches. "He got plum posts under the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front regime," the chief minister said. It may be recalled that the name of Mopalwar, who in late nineties headed the Stamps department, had figured in th fake stamppaper scandal masterminded by Abdul Karim Telgi. Mopalwar had, however, always claimed that he was in fact, the whistle-blower.

Meanwhile, the Treasury bench legislators and ministers of the BJP-Sena government, returned to attend the proceedings.