In a major embarrassment for the Congress, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered an FIR to be registered against the party’s Mumbai chief Kripashankar Singh, besides asking property belonging to him and his family to be attached. The court also directed that Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik should investigate into the matter.
The order was passed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Roshan Dalvi. The court also ordered the investigating agencies to submit their reports by April 10.
The verdict came when the court was hearing a PIL filed by social activist Sanjay Tiwari, who had alleged that Singh had amassed crores of rupees, disproportionate to his known sources of income. Tiwari has also sought to link Singh’s name with the sensational Madhu Koda scandal that took place in Jharkhand and involved the chief minister of that state. The petitioner was represented by noted lawyers Mahesh Jethmalani and Mihir Desai.
The court said that the PIL and the report of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) should be treated as an FIR. “The immovable properties of Kripashankar shall be attached. We do not want to pass any directions regarding the bank accounts of the respondents, as it is alleged that the money might have been washed out. The PIL shall be treated as FIR and the report submitted by the state ACB in March 2011, showing Kripashankar’s income and expenditure, shall be treated as investigation,” the court said.
Singh is an MLA from Kalina and the President of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC). He is a former Minister of State for Home. The development would have political implications and he may have to resign as Mumbai Congress chief, given the fact that the Congress has faced electoral reverses in the recently-concluded Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls.