ACB conducts searches in houses of nine accused

The searches were conducted on Friday and Saturday after senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and 16 others, including the house of Information Commissioner of Aurangabad Division D B Deshpande, were booked for their alleged involvement in the Maharashtra Sadan scam.

Besides Deshpande, searches were conducted at the residences of eight government employees - Devdutt Marathe, Bipin Sankhe, Gajanan Sawant, Manik B Shah, Sanjay Solanki, Anil Gaikwad, Arun Deodhar and Harish Patil, ACB said in <g data-gr-id="53">an statement</g>.

“We have not seized the properties and valuables found in our search, rather we have made a note of it and will put in court of law as procurement of proof,” a senior ACB officer said.

During the searches, ACB found five flats owned by <g data-gr-id="47">Deshapande</g>, one each in Thane and Aurangabad and the remaining ones in Pune, the statement said.

ACB also found that Deshpande owns four plots in Aurangabad besides two shops each in Nashik and Aurangabad, and a farm measuring 5 hectares in Aurangabad, the statement said.

“While we have clinching <g data-gr-id="56">evidences</g> against a few accused of amassing disproportionate assets, we are in <g data-gr-id="57">process</g> of recovering more assets from <g data-gr-id="58">rest</g> of the accused,” the ACB officer said.

Moreover, 1.53 kg of gold, 27 kg silver, bonds worth Rs 2.68 crore and Rs 50 lakh in three bank accounts owned by <g data-gr-id="37">Deshapande</g> have also been found, the statement added.

The anti-graft agency also said that it found 2.1 kg gold, six flats and one bungalow in Pune, and three plots, 12 hectares farm land on six locations owned by former Maharashtra Information Commissioner M B Shah.

The agency has found 1.2 kg gold, 4 kg silver, 21 insurance policies, one flat each in Mumbai, Nashik and Bhiwandi, one plot in Nashik, one plot in Alibaug, |three plots in Ambernath and one plot in Karjat owned by another accused, Gajanan Sawant.

In addition, bonds worth Rs 1.5 crore of 10 companies and Rs 10.30 lakh in three accounts owned by Sawant.

In February this year, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had conducted a search at the government rest house in <g data-gr-id="54">Kalanagar</g>, Bandra (east) and seized eight bags full of documents, registers, mobiles, CDs and liquor bottles from a room that had been kept locked for a long time.