CBI raids Padamsinh Patil's houses

CBI raids Padamsinh Patil's houses

Mumbai (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition as well as incriminating documents from two houses owned by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Padamsinh Patil, accused of murdering his cousin and his driver.

A CBI team supervised by Western Region Joint Director Rishi Raj Singh raided two apartments owned by Patil in Colaba in south Mumbai late Thursday, a CBI source said.

Mr. Patil, 64, is accused of having murdered his cousin Pavan Raje Nimbalkar, a Congress leader, and his driver Samad Qazi in Navi Mumbai in July 2006.

An intensive search of the two premises owned by Patil yielded a rich haul of arms, ammunitions, unaccounted cash worth Rs.726,000, incriminating documents, powerful walkie-talkie sets, computers and CDs, a CBI official said.

Among the weapons recovered are two rifles, one revolver, one pistol, a large quantity of ammunition and three swords.

The documents seized by the CBI pertain to a multimillion rupee fraud involving the Terna sugar factory, which Patil partly owns, and the murder case.

Mr. Patil, in CBI custody till Saturday, is among the six people arrested by the CBI in the Nimbalkar murder case. CBI investigations have also revealed a plot to kill anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who had exposed the Terna sugar factory scam.