PUNE, June 4: The Maharashtra Government has approved investigations by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) against the controversial Municipal Commissioner Arun Bhatia to probe his role in a land deal conducted during his tenure as the divisional commissioner of Pune, Chief Minister Narayan Rane said here today.The decision comes in the wake of recommendations made by the director general of police to conduct a probe through ACB in connection with Bhatia's role in the Maharwatan land deal in which Bhatia has been alleged to have shown undue favours to a real estate agent Aditya Maharaj Singh while serving as Pune municipal commissioner.
Talking to reporters, Rane said ``Bhatia will not be spared if in the course of the investigations it comes to light that he had committed an irregularity.''
Cops want to grill him
The city police have sent a letter to Municipal Commissioner Arun Bhatia requesting for an appointment to question him in a ``criminal breach of trust'' case in the Maharwatan land deal involving Aditya Maharaj Singh. The letter was sent on June 1 after the preliminary investigations revealed the possible involvement of some government employees in the case, said Additional Commissioner of Police M S Maheshgauri.
Bhatia will be questioned after he gives an appointment to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) P N Ingale who is investigating the case, he added. Investigations were transferred to ACP Ingale last week after relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act were applied. Prior to that, inspector in-charge of Bund Garden police station Prabhakar Shukla was investigating the case. Ingale today quizzed two clerks, one from the divisional commissioner's office and the other posted at district collector's office. He had questioned some officials of deputy collector rank on Thursday.
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