Cash recovered from room in govt guesthouse in Maharashtra's Dhule

Mumbai: In a shocking development, huge quantities of cash was recovered from the room of a government guest house in Dhule district - which the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alleged as a 'bribe' meant for members of the Estimates Committee of the Maharashtra legislature.

Looking at the seriousness of the incident, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state Home Minister, has announced a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

The Estimates Committee is headed by Arjun Khotkar, who is an MLA from the Shiv Sena headed by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

“What has happened is a serious issue. The truth is yet to come out. There cannot be questions on the function of the Legislative Committees,” Fadnavis said.

“Probe will be conducted into the money trail and whether anyone has asked for it,” he added.

Fadnavis would also speak to Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and Legislative Council Chairman Prof Ram Shinde.

“I will speak to the Presiding Officers and request them to get the issue probed through the Ethics Committee also,” he said.

Former MLA Anna Gote seems to be the whistle-blower in the case.

The incident involves Room No 102 of the government guest house in Dhule.

According to reports, the room was booked by Khotkar’s PA Kishore Patil.

Dhule district’s Superintendent of Police Shrikant Dhivare told reporters that the matter was being probed. However, he did not specify the exact amount that was seized.

In a post on X, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has alleged that his party’s workers foiled an attempt to `bribe’ members of the Estimates Committee.

“When the legislature estimates committee visited Dhule district today, about five and a half crore rupees were kept in room number 102 at the Dhule government rest house Gulmohar for giving bribe to the committee,” the Rajya Sabha member claimed adding that Gote and local Sena (UBT) leaders locked the room and were standing guard outside, Raut said.

“Despite informing the Dhule Collector, Superintendent of Police and Anti-Corruption Bureau, no one has come even after four to five hours….There is no cooperation from the administration. The bribe was meant to suppress corruption in development works and officials’ involvement in it,” he alleged.

Khotkar refuted the allegations as baseless and said the committee has nothing to do with the money. He sought an inquiry into whether the money was planted in the room to defame the committee. “It seems that someone planted that money to defame us,” Khotkar said.

Former minister and BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar expressed shock over the cash recovery and demanded an inquiry to bring out the truth and restore trust in the legislative committees.

"This is clear evidence of government-sponsored plunder. It is rumoured that this money was extorted from local contractors. If an MLA's PA possesses this much cash, one can only imagine how much the MLA himself might be hoarding,” Maharashtra Congress President Harshavardhan Sapkal said.