top of page

By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Battered but not beaten

Congress vows to go alone in BMC polls Mumbai:  Rubbishing soothsayers’ predictions of political irrelevance in the just concluded polls to 288 municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats in the state, the Maharashtra Congress claimed it has made a strong comeback with a notable performance. The party independently secured 41 posts of Municipal Presidents and 1,006 Councillor seats, plus 7 Municipal Presidents and 154 Councillors from Congress-supported local alliance, said state party President...

Battered but not beaten

Congress vows to go alone in BMC polls Mumbai:  Rubbishing soothsayers’ predictions of political irrelevance in the just concluded polls to 288 municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats in the state, the Maharashtra Congress claimed it has made a strong comeback with a notable performance. The party independently secured 41 posts of Municipal Presidents and 1,006 Councillor seats, plus 7 Municipal Presidents and 154 Councillors from Congress-supported local alliance, said state party President Harshwardhan Sapkal. Conceding that polls bring both wins or losses, Sapkal said “the Congress has survived many such seasons in its long political journey”, while party leaders reiterated that it will “go solo in the BMC elections and in other civic bodies, local-level partnerships will be forged as directed by the AICC high command”. “The results are a clear verdict in favour of democratic values over money power. Our performance again proved that ‘trust is greater than money and ideology is more important than power’. Despite limited resources and no access to state machinery, we fought with courage, conviction, grassroots mobilisation and structural strength, that have unnerved the ruling dispensation,” thundered Sapkal. Organisational Push The organisational push was aggressively led by Sapkal himself, along with senior leaders M. Arif Naseem Khan and Vijay Wadettiwar and a few others who campaigned vigorously across regions, including weak pockets. “The results are a fitting reply to those who keep prophesying that the Congress is finished. The voters have decisively rejected attempts to fracture social harmony in the name of caste and religion. They have given thumbs up to the Congress ideology which alone can safeguard the nation,” Sapkal contended. “In this ideological battle, we have not strayed even an inch. Congress lives in peoples’ hearts. We thank all our workers, candidates and voters for their support and reposing faith in us. We are now preparing for the upcoming Municipal Corporations and Zilla Parishad polls to save the state from the corrupt Mahayuti regime,” declared Sapkal. Pep talk masks a saga of Sabotage Behind the post-results optimism and celebratory rhetoric lies a more troubling development - of alleged sabotage and aloofness by several regional and state-level leaders during the recent civic polls, party insiders claim. Despite the official display of ‘collective effort and ideological resolve’, the ground reality was very different and may have cost the party at least 35-40 posts of Municipal President and nearly a 1000-plus Councillors. Multiple functionaries commended how the Sapkal-Khan-Wadettiwar trio carried out the campaign almost single-handedly, wading “neck deep” into rallies, meetings and field mobilisation, but most influential leaders chose to keep away. “Many didn’t bother to lift a finger, even in their own strongholds. Attempts to rope them in joint rallies even in their own strongholds failed; their phones were either not-reachable or switched-off,” confided a senior office-bearer, preferring anonymity. This proved deeply frustrating for everyone, especially grassroots workers who were valiantly battling the well-oiled Mahayuti campaign machinery on the ground, he pointed out. Concurring, another senior functionary said that if the local satraps had given a united push, the poll results could have altered dramatically and Congress could have exceeded its 2017 performance despite fewer local bodies at the time.

Police under suspicion over Warna treasure loot

Khaki, Black Money - Part 3

Crores in unaccounted cash being allegedly suppressed during investigation


AI Generated Image
AI Generated Image

 

Kolhapur: In March 2016, a sensational theft rattled Kolhapur district. Over Rs 3 crore was stolen from a room inside the Warna Education Group campus at Warananagar by a habitual offender. Sangli police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested the thief and initially claimed to have cracked the case. But what followed exposed a far murkier truth – one that continues to simmer in Warananagar even today.

 

After the accused led police to the crime scene during custodial interrogation, successive rounds of searches mysteriously pushed the recovered amount beyond Rs 15 crore. Locals insist the actual figure was far higher. The most serious allegation: police officers who were entrusted with the probe allegedly siphoned off a large part of the cash themselves. In effect, those probing the theft are suspected of having looted the loot.

 

An office-bearer of the institution, alleging glaring loopholes and deliberate suppression of facts, knocked on every administrative door demanding a reinvestigation. However, if the Crime Investigation Branch, acting on orders of the then Chief Minister, simply stamped the petition as “baseless” and consigned it to the dustbin, the decision itself demands a thorough probe. But who will show the courage to order one – that is the real question.

 

Sheer Scale

 

The sheer scale of unaccounted cash uncovered at the Warna Education Group is staggering. Ironically, it was greed that exposed the secret. A driver employed by the institution stumbled upon the cash pile and succumbed to temptation. With the help of a habitual thief from his own village, Mohiuddin Abubakar Mulla, he executed the theft. The burglars had grossly underestimated the volume of cash – the sacks they carried were insufficient. They fled with whatever they could grab.

 

For Mulla, it was money he had never seen in his lifetime. He splurged wildly — buying three brand-new Royal Enfield Bullets, partying in bars, flaunting sudden wealth. His altered lifestyle soon led him back to jail. Sangli CID arrested him and seized Rs 3.08 crore along with other valuables. Following his confession, police returned to the Warna campus, conducted fresh searches and panchnamas, and claimed to have seized even more cash.

 

Seized Money

After Mulla was released on bail, a relative of one of the institution’s trustees staked claim over the seized money. Shockingly, during further investigation, yet another cache was recovered from the same room, while Rs 68 lakh was found at the driver’s residence. Where did such massive cash originate from? The prime accused reportedly told investigators that the actual amount was far higher than what was officially recorded – but there is no such statement on record. Instead, the accused was murdered.

 

The figures on paper simply do not tally with the money seized. The mismatch itself was enough to trigger action. Five police personnel – including an inspector and a sub-inspector – were suspended and booked on charges of misappropriating huge sums. One police officer linked to the case was murdered, while the family of another claims his “accidental” death was, in fact, a planned elimination.

 

Dark Script

The case reads like a dark Bollywood script. Yet the most damning silence comes from the Warna Education Group itself. Despite crores being found inside its premises, the institution has never formally claimed ownership. The relatives of trustees who staked claim have produced no proof that the room was officially allotted to them. There has been no credible verification of how they acquired such vast sums, nor any thorough probe by the Income Tax Department.

 

Instead, whispers in Warana’s sugarcane fields point to an even graver allegation: that a senior official allegedly took a Rs 2-crore “contract” to ensure the money was quietly returned. If true, who is this contract-taking officer? How much money did the police pocket? Why does the institution refuse to assert its claim despite the cash being found on its campus?

 

Only a reinvestigation can answer these questions. It may also finally expose who, within the police force, is donning a khaki uniform to play the role of a dacoit.

Comments

bottom of page