MUMBAI: A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday night arrested senior Nationalist Congress Party leader, former state minister and newly elected member of Parliament from Osmanabad district, Padmasinh Patil, here on charges of murder of his political rival senior Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar also of Osmanabad in 2006. He was produced before a court in Panvel town of Navi Mumbai which sent him to police custody till June 14. Patil is also a former state home minister of Maharashtra.
The CBI officials swooped down on the government residence of his son Rana Jagjit Singh, who is minister of state for revenue in the Congress party-led Democratic Front government.
He was interrogated there for two hours and then taken to the CBI office in South Mumbai, where he was interrogated the whole night, and then charged for murder and arrested after CBI officials informed the Lok Sabha speaker.
After being placed under arrest, Patil complained of chest pain and high blood pressure yesterday morning. He was then moved to the J.J. Hospital, where doctors examined him and said that he had high blood pressure. In the afternoon the doctors told the CBI officials that Patil’s blood pressure has stabilized and that he can be taken to the court in Panvel. Patil’s arrest followed after an accused in the murder case had given a confessional statement to the CBI, that Patil had given him Rs.30 lakhs for contact killing of Nimbalkar and also renowned social worker Anna Hazare based in Pune.
Dozens of NCP workers on motorbikes moved around the city and created panic. Another group of party workers attacked government buses and private vehicles breaking their glass panes. The NCP was put in an embarrassing position over the arrest of Patil, particularly when the Parliament session is in progress.
