Murder accused NCP MP sent to CBI custody till June 20

Mumbai: A Maharashtra court Sunday sent Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)'s suspended MP Padamsinh Patil, accused of the murder of his cousin and Congress leader Pavan Raje Nimbalkar, to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till June 20.

The magistrate also extended the judicial remand for the other co-accused – businessmen Mohan Shukla and Satish Mandade – to June 26.

Patil, who was elected from Maharashtra's Osmanbad Lok Sabha constituency last month, was arrested last Sunday (June 7) and charged with the murder and conspiracy to kill Nimbalkar and his driver Samad Qazi.

According to Senior Public Prosecutor Ejaz Khan, the accused have been charged under the Indian Penal Code's sections 302 and 120-B, dealing with murder and criminal conspiracy respectively.

Claiming that he was innocent in the murder case, Patil told the court that the investigation agency was "coercing" him to confess to the Nimbalkar killing. He also claimed that the CBI was also pressurising him to undergo a narco-analysis test, which he refused.

Nimbalkar, Patil's cousin, was shot dead by two gunmen at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai on July 3, 2006 after he was lured there under the pretext of striking a business deal.

Shooter Dineshram M Tiwari (37) and his supervisor Parasmal T Jain (47), were arrested by the CBI last week (May 25) for killing Nimbalkar and Qazi. The contract to kill Nimbalkar and Hazare was given by Shukla and Mandade.

In an attempt to unravel the truth, the CBI summoned a five-member team of experts to help assist the investigations into the sensational case. The team, consisting of forensic and ballistic specialists, recreated the murder incident at the scene of the crime.

The agency is also probing the ownership of a green Tata Indica vehicle used by the killers to commit the crime. The vehicle was used to get away from the scene of crime and then hidden in a village in Navi Mumbai. It was later found burnt by the investigators.

In their confession recorded before a magistrate, Jain and Tiwari also made the sensational disclosure of receiving a Rs 2.50-million contract to eliminate renowned social and anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare, a Magsaysay Award winner.

However, they said that they refused the offer to kill Hazare.