Balganga scam: 3 accused in judicial custody till Nov 8

A district court today remanded in judicial custody till November 8 three accused in the multi-crore Balganga irrigation scam.
Special Judge P P Jadhav sent G G Babar, B B Patil and R D Shinde, all former officials of the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KIDC), to judicial custody.
While Babar was the Executive Director, Patil and Shinde were the Chief Engineer and the Superintending Engineer of KIDC respectively.
Taking a stern view that the trio had been remaining absent for the hearings, the court had issued summons to them. The court rejected the bail applications filed by the trio and remanded them in judicial custody.

The trio were among the dozen accused in the case. Most of the persons, who were booked in the scam were officials of KIDC and the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), besides the contractors.
The ACB had earlier registered an FIR against 12 accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 92 crore to the government through misconduct in connection with the construction of the dam.
It is alleged that the original cost of the project escalated from Rs 353 crore to Rs 1,220 crore during the rule of Congress-led UPA government.
After assuming power in 2014, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had ordered ACB to conduct an open enquiry in this regard.