7 -year jail, Rs 100 crore fine for ex-minister and Shiv Sena leader Suresh Jain in housing scam
Mumbai, Aug 31: Former Maharashtra ministers Suresh Jain and Gulabrao Deokar were sentenced to jail for seven years and five years respectively by a Dhule sessions court on Saturday for their involvement in the multi-crore 'Gharkul' housing scam.
Special Judge Srushti Neelkanth also imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on Shiv Sena leader Jain for irregularities in the Rs 29-crore housing project scam when he was state minister of home in the 1990s.
As many as 46 others, including some former municipal councillors and officials, were given jail terms between three and seven years by the court.
Soon after the court pronounced its verdict, all 48 convicts, who were present in the court, were taken into custody.
Jain was arrested in March 2012. He spent over a year in jail before securing bail from the Supreme Court.
NCP leader Deokar was arrested in May 2012. He spent three years in jail before securing bail. He was a councillor in the Jalgaon Municipal Council between 1995 and 2000.
They were accused of favouring a builder and indulging in irregularities to the tune of Rs 29 crore.
Jain had favoured Khandesh Builders, which was given a contract to build tenements under the Gharkul scheme.
Former municipal commissioner of Jalgaon, Pravin Gedam, had registered a complaint in this regard in February 2006.
Of the 5,000 houses that were to be developed on the outskirts of Jalgaon, only 1,500 were completed.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
UP Cong chief Ajay Rai hospitalised after fainting, stable
Lucknow (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai was hospitalised here after he fell unconscious due to low sodium levels, party leaders said on Saturday.
They said he was admitted to Medanta Hospital on Friday evening and is stable.
"Ajay Rai was admitted to Medanta Hospital in Lucknow at around 6 pm on Friday after he fell unconscious as his sodium levels had dropped. He fell unconscious at his residence in Lucknow. For the entire day, he was engaged in party programmes and had also gone to the airport," Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi told PTI.
Congress in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Avinash Pande told PTI, "Now, he (Ajay Rai) is stable and I am also reaching Lucknow."
Medanta Hospital Director Dr Rakesh Kapoor told PTI that Rai collapsed at his home on Friday evening and was subsequently admitted to the hospital's emergency ward.
Medical examinations revealed that Rai was suffering from a sodium deficiency and elevated blood pressure. Doctors administered immediate treatment and he is doing significantly better now, Kapoor said.
A team of doctors is monitoring his health. Rai is conversing with others and his condition is stable, he added.
In a post on X late Friday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Rai a speedy recovery.
Rai hails from Varanasi and had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against Modi from the parliamentary constituency. The Congress appointed him as the Uttar Pradesh unit chief in 2023.
