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HomeEditorialNilangekars — the habitual charlatans of Maharashtra politics: Part 1

Nilangekars — the habitual charlatans of Maharashtra politics: Part 1

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Way back in 1986, it was March when the fraud in MD exam was uncovered, which had happened under the then Chief Minister Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar. There was a writ petition challenging the MD (obstetrics and gynaecology) results of the Bombay University; the judge told a packed courtroom that a reasonable inference was committed “at the behest” of Chief Minister Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar and his daughter Chandrakala, one of the candidates for the MD degree. The University of Bombay declared the results of MD (obstetrics and gynaecology) examinations held in October and November, 1985. An amazing 72 per cent of the candidates — 34 out of 47, who sat for the tough post-graduate medical exam — were declared passed. Rumours began circulating in medical colleges that the extraordinary results were linked with ambiguities committed to pass Nilangekar’s daughter Chandrakala, who had already failed thrice to secure an MD degree. Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar and his dumb daughter both misused his position for their personal gains. Nilangekars have a series of such incidences to their kitty where they have shamed people of the state by their wrongdoings. Political power greed is another curse to them.

After 32 long years, in March 2018, the grandson of Shivajirao Nilangekar and Latur’s guardian Minister Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar got caught in multiple swindles. Irony is that, BJP is a party that came to power swearing clean politics; but, they have revealed their double standards whenever their ministers were caught in scandals. Fadnavis not only misinformed the legislative assembly but he blatantly lied in the house to defend “immoral” Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar and Jaykumar Rawal. Fadnavis had inducted both these ministers into his cabinet in 2016. As both of them were, in some or the other way, the legatees to his hidden activities.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has accused Nilangekar in a finance default case where he was a guarantor for a loan of more that Rs 40 crore given to Victoria Agro Food Processing Pvt. Ltd, which was incorporated in 2008. Two public sector banks — Bank of Maharashtra and Union Bank of India gave the loan. The company had sought the loan to set up a distillery in Latur district but could not complete the project, leading to a default on the repayment of loan. In mid-2011, both banks declared the loan as Non-Performing Asset (NPA). The banks also filed a case of cheating against the directors of the company (point to be noted that the directors of the company are none other than his own relatives and peers); CBI filed a chargesheet in 2015 after finding that the loan mortgage papers had been tampered and they were fraudulent. Fadnavis told the legislative assembly on July 22 that the CBI took up the case because no other investigative agency was authorised to investigate cases involving nationalised banks. Agreed, the inquiry was set up and Nilangekar is found to be involved in a fraud but the Chief Minister seems to have started a single-window scheme to issue clean chits to its corrupt ministers. Meanwhile, our PM and BJP head Narendra Modi already gave a jumla that “I won’t eat and let anyone eat”. If these fraudsters are exposed, it would be an embarrassment to BJP ahead of 2019 elections. Nilangekar was booked by the CBI two years ago for being party to a criminal conspiracy for cheating the Union Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra but the case has reached to a one-time settlement (OTS) of Rs 51 crore with the two banks.

Victoria Agro Food Processing Private Limited, for which he was a guarantor, had taken a loan of Rs 20 crore each from the Latur branches of Bank of Maharashtra and Union Bank of India. The company paid the interest amount for initial two years. But from 2011, it failed to pay the interest and the principal amount. The unpaid interest and loan amount had accumulated to nearly Rs 76 crore and the loan got classified as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA). The company was auctioned for Rs 25 crore with both banks sharing the amount. The recovered amount is just less than 50 per cent; still the banks have waived Rs 51 crore as one-time settlement. The question is that, why banks were so generous to this particular minister?? Are they going to apply the same rule with other defaulters? Who has instructed these banks to go soft on the minister?

Whose wasted interest is involved in this? As per the settlement, the bank is getting Rs 12.50 crore. The loan amount for a single bank was Rs 20 crore and the interest on it was Rs 21.75 crore. Does this mean, if the favourite people in power corridors commit the fraud, entire government machinery and CM himself would support them? Is it going to be a new norm for all those loan defaulters or a selective minister?

Nilangekar’s brother-in-law ran the grain-based alcohol plant in partnership with another individual in Latur’s Sakol. This brother-in-law is the husband of Sambhaji’s sister, who is known for her share of immorality. See how the strings get connected. The CBI had accused Nilangekar of ‘commissioning offences of criminal conspiracy and cheating’. But, Fadnavis still defended Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar and Jaykumar Rawal — both from the BJP — who are facing allegations of irregularity in the Legislative Assembly. Is the CM trying to say that CBI is bogus? Its charges are not to be taken seriously? Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal, CM’s another blue-eyed boy, who is facing allegations of dubious land deals in Dhule district and of illegally holding the land of a hill resort. Rawal was operating the resort in Nandurbar district in north Maharashtra despite his company Toranmal Hill Resorts Private Ltd being blacklisted by the state-run tourism development corporation (MTDC). The MTDC land for the resort was leased in 1990 whereas the dispute between the MTDC and the company started in 2006. The company did not pay the lease rent to the MTDC, which in turn invoked provisions of the Eviction of Public Premises Act, in 2011 and sent a notice to the company. However, MTDC officials were not allowed to do their work and were forcibly turned away.

Interestingly, BJP government and its Chief Minister see no fraud in both the cases; let’s see how this entire episode takes shape.

Well…

In the second part of the edit we will further analyse the MD fraud committed by former CM Nilangekar.

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Vaidehi Taman
Vaidehi Tamanhttps://authorvaidehi.com
Vaidehi Taman an Accredited Journalist from Maharashtra is bestowed with three Honourary Doctorate in Journalism. Vaidehi has been an active journalist for the past 21 years, and is also the founding editor of an English daily tabloid – Afternoon Voice, a Marathi web portal – Mumbai Manoos, and The Democracy digital video news portal is her brain child. Vaidehi has three books in her name, "Sikhism vs Sickism", "Life Beyond Complications" and "Vedanti". She is an EC Council Certified Ethical Hacker, OSCP offensive securities, Certified Security Analyst and Licensed Penetration Tester that caters to her freelance jobs.
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