Thaindian News

Raigad (Maharashtra), June 7 (IANS) A local court here slapped a fine of Rs.10,000 on suspended Nationalist Congress Party parliament member Padamsinh Patil, who is an accused in a murder case, for delaying the trial slated to start here Tuesday, a lawyer said.

Patil, along with two co-accused - businessman Satish Mandade of Latur and municipal corporator Mohan Shukla from Thane - moved a joint application seeking documents from police who booked him and several others for the murder of Congress leader Pavan-Raje Nimbalkar in 2006, said Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel Ejaz Khan.

The case was registered at Kalamboli police station in Navi Mumbai but the probe was later taken over by the CBI.

“I objected to the application and pointed out that all the documents pertaining to the case have already been handed over to Patil and other accused in the form of a CBI charge sheet,” Khan told IANS.

Khan contended that the charge sheet was filed against Patil nearly two years ago. In the meantime, the accused moved other higher courts but never spoke about the documents, he said.

He said if the accused needed more documents, he could have sought additional time from the court instead of delaying the matter when the trial was due to start.

Additional District Sessions Judge Dilip Gaikwad intervened and directed the CBI to provide Patil the documents he had sought in the next 10 days.

He also ordered Patil to pay a fine of Rs.10,000 for wasting the court’s time and delaying the proceedings.

Daily hearing in the case will start July 4.

According to the CBI, Patil hired contract killers for a sum of Rs.30 lakh to get Nimbalkar killed in 2006.

On July 3, 2006, Nimbalkar and his driver Samad Kazi were shot dead at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai in the adjacent Thane district.

Patil, elected to parliament in 2009 from Osmanabad constituency on an NCP ticket, was arrested by the CBI from his Mumbai home June 7, 2009. He got bail later.

In a 5,000-page charge sheet filed Aug 20, 2009, the CBI said that Patil hatched a conspiracy to kill Nimbalkar whom he viewed as a political rival.

Besides Patil, businessman Mandade from Latur, and municipal corporator Shukla of Dombivli in Thane are named the co-accused.

Till date, the CBI has nabbed nine people, including Patil, in the murder case.

The other accused include Parasmal Tarachand Jain alias Badala from Dombivli in Thane district, Shashikant Kulkarni from Mumbai, Bahujan Samaj Party activist Kailash Yadav, and three hired killers - Gyanendra alias Chhote Pandey, Dinesh Tiwari and Pintoo Singh.