The Mumbai police has filed a 904-page chargesheet against BJP Member of Legislative Council (MLC) and opposition leader Pravin Darekar, along with two other accused – Andheri resident Shrikant Kadam and Pravin Margaj of Jogeshwari.
The case against Darekar is that the MLC allegedly claimed that he worked as a labourer to head a cooperative of labourers, which led him to be a functionary at the Mumbai Cooperative Bank. Darekar is accused of forging documents to contest polls of the Mumbai District Cooperative Society in the labour quota.
In the chargesheet, the police have said that in the nomination papers for the MLC post, he had declared Rs 2.13 crore worth of immovable property, of which property worth Rs 91.02 lakh is in his name, which “cannot be labourer’s assets”.
The chargesheet was filed before the 38th magistrate court at Ballard Pier by the MRA Marg police station and has 29 statements of bank officials, labourers and a gym instructor. Darekar and the other accused were present in court when his lawyer Akhilesh Chaubey submitted that the MLC had been protected from arrest by an order of the Bombay High Court in April.
