Khadse case: HC gives last chance to govt to file probe report

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today gave the "last chance" to the Maharashtra government to file within a week a report on police investigation into allegation against senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse of being involved in an illegal land deal. A division bench headed by Justice R V More had at the last hearing in January expressed dissatisfaction over alleged delay by the government in initiating police investigation into the allegation.

The high court had then directed the government to file a report by today detailing steps it had taken for the probe. When government counsel Niteen Pradhan today sought more time to file the report, the court said it can give a week's time. "This is the last chance we are giving. If by next week the report is not filed, the court will be forced to pass certain orders," Justice More said.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Pune-based activist Hemant Gavande, alleging, among other things, that Khadse purchased a three-acre plot in an industrial zone at Bhosri near Pune in the name of his kin for Rs 3.75 crore against the market price of Rs 40 crore, misusing his position as the state's revenue minister. Gavande has sought a CBI probe in the case. Khadse, who was no. 2 in Maharashtra Cabinet, had stepped down in June last year in wake of the allegations of wrongdoing.