Captain Gupte, assistant government pleader at the City Civil Court, has urged the chief justice to ``immediately pass directions to stop private fund collection for the benefit of Kargil victims and divert all funds so far collected to the Army Central Welfare Fund''.

Copies of the letter, penned in July, have also been sent to the President of India and Union defence minister. Gupte has also urged the chief justice to issue directives to the government ``to submit a report to the Supreme Court as to how the funds were utilised for the benefit of Kargil victims''. Hehas also demanded that political parties be prohibited from placing Kargil on their agendas for the upcoming elections.

Gupte enrolled with the Indian Army in the Emergency Commission, which was set up after the 1962 war, as a second lieutenant. He was stationed at a border post in the Amritsar range during the 1965 Pakistani aggression, and retired in 1968 as captain.

His letter, Gupte says, is the outcome of the bitter experiences he had as an office-bearer for more than 19 years of both the voluntary organisation of ex-armymen, the Ex-Servicemen's Association and the Defence Ministry-recognised Indian Ex-Servicemen League (ISL). The organisations, with a membership of over one lakh, were active in rehabilitating disabled soldiers and families of dead ones and reaching the benefits meant for servicemen to them and/or their families.

``Not a single rupee was ever given to these organisations, even to the ISL, despite the fact that it is recognised by the Government of India.

Fund-raising drives wereorganised during the 1962 China aggression, when we were fighting the Pakistanis in 1965 and even in 1971. Where did the money go,'' Gupte, a Palghar resident, told Express Newsline.

``The organisations had to rely solely on private donations and membership subscriptions. In fact, when I was with the ISL, several fund-raising professionals approached me offering to organise drives, but asked for 25 per cent of the collections as fees,'' he says. ``During my welfare activities, I found that no private trust founded during the Indo-Pak conflict of 1965 was active... Nobody knows where these private individuals or trusts who had collected millions of rupees for the benefit of soldiers had vanished,'' his letter says.

Gupte also questioned why most welfare funds are being diverted to the Prime Minister's Welfare Fund. ``Once this money, meant for the soldiers, gets mixed with the original amount, do you think the politicians will let go of it,'' he asks. ``There are a number of decorated soldiers whoare yet to receive their benefits announced by the government for decorated service. Numbers of war widows and dependent parents are suffering the agony. But all politicians are in slumber...'' the letter reads.

Gupte has also urged the chief justice to treat his letter as a writ petition. He has not received any reply from the chief justice, the President or defence minister so far.

Munde, the family man, complete with a picture of his family. There is the deputy chief minister bemoaning the less time he has had to spend with wife and daughters after he took up the job. And among other things, a mention about his youngest daughter `revolting' against his not spending enough time with them.

Finally, when Munde dreams about a Maharashtra ``where there are no barriers of caste of creed'', he dreams king-size; perhaps a sign of things to come. In a section dubbed `The Future', Munde talks about Maharashtra hereafter, about harnessing IT, the need to develop power, telecommunication network,agro-processing... When he signs off, it is clear that it is not just another politician talking, but a candidate aiming for the top job.