Maharashtra government has handed over documents pertaining to the alleged multi-crore scam in state-run Annabhau Sathe Development Corporation to Enforcement Directorate and questioned the role of NCP leader Ajit Pawar in this connection.

Minister of State for Social Justice Dilip Kamble said documents were handed over to the ED, which is examining the case, last Tuesday and that the government was “doubtful” over Pawar’s decision to allocate Rs. 300 crore to the Sathe Corporation three months before Assembly polls last year.

However, former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said there have been no discrepancies and that the “truth will be out for all to see” once the investigation is completed.

NCP leader Ramesh Kadam, former chairman of the Corporation, along with three other accused including his then personnel assistant, his sister and one of his office staff are in judicial custody in connection with the alleged scam.

The state government has handed over the probe in the scam to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Kamble claimed that the scam runs into about Rs 1,000 crore, out of which Rs 500 crore belongs to Sathe Mahamandal (Corporation) and the remaining has been received as grants from the Centre.

“We have handed over the documents to ED as we have to find out the cash flow, transactions with various accounts, purchase of 40 luxury cars and the distribution of cash in Assembly constituencies where NCP had contested the polls last year,” the minister said.

“Kadam had used the funds to live a lavish life, distributed luxury cars to presidents of various organisations working for Matang community so that nobody would raise their voice against him,” he alleged.

Kadam “withdrew Rs 22 crore cash from a nationalised bank on a single day and the CID has got the evidence of the transaction,” Kamble claimed, adding that the agency was probing it.

Hailing Dawoodi Bohra community’s role in the evacuation of Indians from Yemen during ‘Operation Rahat’, Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh today said these “silent workers” did a tremendous job but have not been adequately recognised for their work.

“For evacuating Indians, not only did we get great amount of help from Yemeni authorities who were willing to come to the airport while it was otherwise barren, we also had the Indian Bohra community which provided us volunteers and assisted us in gathering people to come to us,” Singh said.

“These silent workers did a tremendous job and I think nobody seems to have recognised the type of role this little community played out there in ensuring that people could come to the airport, could be ferried to the airport. Word would be passed around to them that aircraft will start landing at so and so time so we want you to come early,” he said.

“They were also ensuring that immigration authorities worked there and assisted us,” the former Army Chief said.

He was speaking at an event in Bombay Stock Exchange where he was felicitated for the success of ‘Operation Rahat’ conducted by the government in April this year.

Describing the challenges that Indian authorities faced while evacuating Indians from the war-torn country, Singh said some people were reluctant to return to India and had to be coaxed to come back.

“Our people who were working there were very happy, except that when the situation went bad they thought it is better that we get evacuated. Otherwise there were a lot of people, for example a bunch of nurses I spoke to said that they are not happy going back. So it was a shock…You are trying to evacuate somebody back home and they are saying I am not happy to go back home,” he said.

“When I asked them why, they said we have a very good job here and we are only going back because our parents are crying at home and asking us to come. They wanted to stay back and I am quite sure by now, they must be already back in Yemen,” he said.

A 54-year-old sweeper was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Thane for raping his 11-year-old daughter in 2013.

Thane sessions Judge VV Virkar convicted the sweeper after he was tried under various sections of IPC and also POCSO Act 2012.

He was also slapped with a fine of Rs. 6,000.

In her submission, prosecutor Ruma Navale told the court that the accused who worked as a sweeper in a housing complex resided at Shivaji Nagar in Turbhe with his three children (two girls and a boy) and his aged mother.

The accused was a widower and an alcoholic, the court was told.

Drunk, the accused used to beat children frequently and abuse them. In early 2013, he allegedly raped his elder daughter who then narrated the ordeal to her grandmother but she asked the victim not to reveal the incident to anyone.

When the sexual abuse was repeated several times in mid-2013, the girl broke her silence before a neighbour who got the two sisters admitted at an orphanage with the help of an NGO but not before filing a complaint with Turbe Police.

The accused was charged under sections 323,376 and 377 of IPC and also sections 4,6,8 of POCSO Act.

Organisers of an event featuring former Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, have approached Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking ‘adequate security’ to him after cancellation of Pakistani Ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali’s concert.

The Observer Research Foundation Mumbai, along with Nehru Centre and Penguin Books India, is organising a function to launch the book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy’ by Kasuri, in Mumbai on October 12 at the Hall of Culture, Nehru Centre, Worli.

“Our purpose in organising this function is to make our own humble contribution to the much-needed normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan. Kasuri’s widely appreciated book shows his strong commitment to peaceful and cooperative ties between our two countries,” ORF Chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni said.

“The launch of the book will be accompanied by a panel discussion, in which the speakers are: A G Noorani, eminent jurist, historian and author; Naseeruddin Shah, renowned film and theatre personality; and Dileep Padgaonkar, eminent journalist and columnist,” Kulkarni, who will moderate the talk, said.

During his stay in Mumbai between October 11 and 14, Kasuri, besides attending the book launch function, will also visit Mani Bhavan and Jinnah House if possible, he said.

Kasuri will also meet veteran movie star Dilip Kumar at his residence.

In a letter to Fadnavis, Kulkarni asked the state government to provide adequate and fool-proof security to Kasuri during his stay here.

Security for Kasuri has become all the more necessary in view of the condemnable episode a few days ago when a concert in Mumbai by Ghulam Ali, the famous ghazal maestro from Pakistan, was called off because of the Shiv Sena’s threat to the organisers of the event, he said.

A 30-year-old peon from a school in suburban Mulund was on Friday arrested on charges of repeatedly raping a teenage daughter of his colleague, police said.

According to PSI D R Kumbhar of Vartak Nagar Police Station, the accused, Nitesh Kadam, and the girl’s father worked in the same school as peons.

Also, they resided in the same locality in Lokmanya Nagar. As the father of the 17-year-old victim and Kadam were working in the same school the families knew each other well, the police official said.

According to the complaint lodged by the victim, Kadam forcibly took her to his house in June 2013 and sexually abused her. He threatened the girl that he would kill her parents and brothers if she revealed anything about the incident.

Once again this month, Kadam started threatening the girl that he would make public her pictures and forced her to accompany him, police said.

He took her to an isolated place near the Ayyappa Temple in Wagle Estate and raped her again, the complaint said.

Based on the complaint, the peon was booked under section 376 of the IPC and also under Sections 4 and 12 of the POCSO Act of 2012, police said.

Bollywood’s veteran music director Ravindra Jain passed away in Mumbai following ill-health at the age of 71.

The talented music composer was admitted to Lilavati Hospital as he was suffering from urinary infection causing problems to his kidneys.

Reports further suggest that Ravindra was shifted from Wockhardt Hospital in Nagpur to Lilavati in Mumbai by a chartered air ambulance.

Reportedly, Jain travelled to Nagpur for a concert on Sunday but could not continue with his performance due to bad health.

The extremely talented music composer is popular for his work in films like ‘Chor Machaye Shor’, ‘Geet Gaata Chal’, ‘Chitchor’ and ‘Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se’.

His hit songs include ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, ‘Do Jasoos’, and ‘Heena’.