Author: Kartikeya
Publication: The Times of India
Date: March 15, 2009
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/HC-slams-ex-CM-for-shielding-moneylender/articleshow/4265374.cms
The Bombay high court has taken strong exception
to former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's office asking the Buldhana district
administration in Vidarbha to go easy on Gokulchanda Sananda, a moneylender
and father of Congress MLA Dilipkumar Sananda, in 2006. The court has labelled
the action "gross abuse of power''.
In May 2006, the moneylending prevention committee
headed by Buldhana collector Ganesh Thakur registered an FIR against Gokulchanda
alias "Dalwale Sheth" after receiving a complaint from a debt-ridden
farmer, Rajendra Kavadkar. He charged Gokulchanda with robbery and kidnapping.
The police also filed chargesheets in seven other criminal cases against the
Sananda family.
The influential Sanandas have been involved
in the moneylending business for years. While Dilipkumar is an MLA, his brother
Ashok was leader of Congress in the Khamgaon Nagar Parishad.
According to petitioner Sarangdharsingh Chavan,
within hours of Kavadkar's complaint, the chief minister's office intervened
and his personal secretary Ajinkya Padwal contacted the police station asking
it not to proceed against Gokulchanda. The fact that a call was made was noted
down by the inspector in the station diary.
In June 2006, Thakur issued a letter under
orders from Deshmukh asking the police not to take cognisance of further complaints
against Dilipkumar's family without sending them for opinion to a district-level
committee. The reason given was that "false and frivolous complaints
were being made against the family of an MLA''.
Justice A H Joshi and A B Chaudhari said a
committee could not be used to "dilute the powers of police'' to act
against moneylenders and observed that had Chavan not filed the petition before
the HC, no investigation would have been carried out against Gokulchanda at
all.
Padwal tried saying that he had not contacted
the Buldhana police asking them to go slow. But after going through the evidence,
the judges held that someone did call up the police station and that too at
the behest of Gokulchanda.
The court struck down instructions given by
Deshmukh to refer the complaints to a panel. It also noted that whenever any
farmer in Buldhana said he had withdrawn a complaint against Gokulchanda under
duress, his grievance should be considered by the administration. The court
imposed a token cost of Rs 25,000 on the state.
