Ex-Maharashtra ministers Suresh Jain (above), Gulabrao Deokar sentenced to seven and five years of jail
The IPS officer, who probed the multi-crore ''Gharkul'' housing scam, has said the court's verdict in the case is the result of the police's hard work and the "perfect" charge sheet filed against the accused.
Ishu Sindhu, currently posted as the Superintendent of Police in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, said the probing team led by him made a "watertight" case against the accused.
The court's order has given justice to the people of Jalgaon, where the scam took place, he told news agency PTI.
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 scam. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on Shiv Sena leader Jain for irregularities in the Rs 29-crore housing project scam in Jalgaon when he was state minister of home in the 1990s.
Sindhu, who was the sub-divisional officer of police in Jalgaon in 2010, had investigated the case and subsequently arrested Jain, Deokar, then city mayor Pradeep Raisoni and others in 2012.
"This (verdict) is the result of the investigating team's hard work and the perfect charge sheet submitted before the court," he said. "The conviction in the case is a big success for the efforts of the policemen, who worked relentlessly during the probe and prepared the documents," he said.
Sindhu also remembered police officer Nitin Nehul, who helped him in the investigation and died some years ago.
Besides Jain and Deokar, 46 others, including some former municipal councillors and officials, were given jail terms between three and seven years by the court on Saturday.
Soon after the court pronounced its verdict, all 48 convicts, who were present in the court, were taken into custody.
Jain was earlier 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 contract to build tenements under the Gharkul scheme.
Former municipal commissioner of Jalgaon, Pravin Gedam, 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.