Pune: The city police on Tuesday informed a special court that there is mismatch in details of properties submitted by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Deepak Mankar during the elections and the findings it reached while investigating the abetment of suicide of social worker Jitendra Jagtap.
Special Judge AS Mahatme remanded Mankar in police custody till December 26. He was arrested on August 1 but after being remanded in police custody by the court, he had complained of uneasiness in police lock-up and had to be hospitalised. Later he was remanded in magisterial custody and sent to Yerwada jail. He has spent 88 days in hospitals since then.
As the police wanted to investigate the case further, they produced him before the court seeking his police custody. “We have seized documents from his house and office. Preliminary investigation has revealed that there is mismatch between properties he had declared before the returning officers for the Assembly elections as well as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the details we found. We are conducting the forensic audit of the documents. Mankar is the eighth accused, while all seven earlier arrested accused either worked for him or his son,” ACP (Lashkar Division) Jayshree Gaikwad, who is investigating the case, submitted to the court.
Special Public Prosecutor Vilas Pathare demanded 15 days police custody stating that Jagtap was to sell the land in Rasta Peth to a builder, but Mankar allegedly bypassed him and dealt with the builder directly.
Mankar’s lawyers Sudhir Shah and Pushkar Durge opposed the police custody demand. After hearing both sides, the court remanded him in police custody till December 26.
Jagtap had jumped in front of a running train between Ghorpadi and Hadapsar on June 2. He left behind a note alleging Mankar and builder Sudhir Karnataki were harassing him a money dispute related to the land.
After the police recovered a suicide note, Jagtap’s son Jayesh (26) lodged a complaint against the accused persons with the Government Railway Police (GRP), who transferred the case to Samarth police station. The police have also invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
