Former IPS officer Y P Singh alleges, Kejriwal withheld Lavasa scam charges against Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule

Mumbai, Oct 18: Enter Y P Singh. The former IPS officer and advocate today convened a press conference to allege that he had documents to prove that Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar got alloted 348 acres of land in Lavasa to Supriya Sule's Lake City Corporation. Singh alleged that he had given all documents about the Lavasa scam to anti-corruption action Arvind Kejriwal, but the latter yesterday raised "a petty scam" involving unused agricultural land given to Gadkari's group, and withheld revelations about a major land scam related to Lavasa by Sharad Pawar and his family. Singh, alongwith lawyer Abha Singh, alleged that in 2002, Ajit Pawar, in his capacity as chairman of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation, allotted 141 hectares (348 acres) to Lake City Corporation at a throwaway rent of Rs 23,000 per month for a period of 30 years. This was done without carrying any public auction or without keeping in mind public purpose, as the Supreme Court had laid down in its 1999 order, said Singh. "This deal was done through one-to-one negotiations and private correspondence", alleged Singh. In 2002, Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and her husband Sadanand Sule had 20.81 per cent share holding in the company carrying out Lavasa project, said Singh. "I had shared 80 per cent of my documents with Arvind Kejriwal but he deliberately concealed this in yesterday's press conference in which he had targeted Nitin Gdkari", said the former IPS officer. "I had also shared the legal notes with Kejriwal. I don't know why he did not reveal, but what I feel is, in the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections, since both Congress and BJP are major parties, Kejriwal wanted to create political space for his party, and therefore concealed the Lavasa scam", said Singh. In 2009, Medha Patkar had set up an inquiry panel consisting of Y P Singh, Arvind Kejriwal and two others, who went through the entire Lavasa scam, said Singh. Kejriwal was fully involved in this inquiry, he added. "Sharad Pawar is an influential minister at the Centre. We don't sit silent after levelling charges like Kejriwal. I have asked my colleague Abha Singh to file a case with Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau in the first week of November, and I will fight out the case in court", said Singh. Singh however said that whatever he was saying about Kejriwal was "constructive criticism", and not making allegations. He also alleged that Kejriwal never raised the Lavasa scam at the Ramlila Maidan fast by Anna Hazare, though he had requested him several times. It was Anna Hazare who fought over the Lavasa scam several times in the past in Maharashtra, he pointed out.