Mumbai: 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.
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