Pune Land SCAM – Is Media trying to mislead?

Another day, Another scam has come into light. This time its a land scam in Pune, which according to division bench of the Bombay High Court could run into over Rs.3 billion, paling the Adarsh Society scam of Mumbai
NDTV in its report This scam is bigger than 2G, say judges Report

what a group of government officials, politicians and real estate builders allegedly pulled off in Pune is no mean feat.
The case is being heard on the basis of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which alleges that land that should have been used by the government to benefit weaker sections of society was granted instead to developers for commercial exploitation. 

We will come to the issue of involved politicians later. But NDTV clearly forgot to mention that the PIL was filed by BJP spokesman Madhav Bhandari 
Economic Times in its report  Pune land scam probe may be given to CBI, says court among other things report

A former minister of state in the Shiv Sena-BJP government between 1995-1999 is said to have signed some of the orders against which the PIL was filed.

Times of India in its report  Pune land scam may be bigger than Adarsh, 2G: HC also mentions

The HC also directed the CBI officers to be in court during the next hearing on February 10. The judges also mentioned the involvement of a former minister of state-a minister when the Shiv Sena-BJP was in rein-who had signed some of the orders that went in appeal. 

From the above reports, one may get an impression that a “a former minister of state - a minister when the Shiv Sena-BJP” is key player in this entire scam.
Media Watch scoured through several old new release on this and has come up with following
As per report published in punediary.com ,

The case dates back to 2005, when the ULC department had registered a case (444/2005) with the Swargate police regarding certain instances of suspected violation of ULC Act provisions. The department came across these instances during an internal scrutiny of papers. The matter was subsequently handed over to the CID following a government order. It was during the investigation of the cases reported by the ULC department to the Swargate police that the CID stumbled upon the ULC violation case involving land at Wakad, which falls under the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and the Pimpri police station. Inspector (CID) Ramchandra Londhe then registered a complaint against the suspects with the Pimpri police station on January 3, 2006.
The CID had shortlisted the file of Sanjay Kalate while conducting investigations and had discovered that he had obtained a forged ULC order purportedly issued by former additional collector and competent authority Bhalchandra Awadhal the under Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976. According to the CID, the ULC order dated February 23, 1999 had given a no objection' certificate to builder Mohan Kalate and others that they were not holding excess land at Wakad. Investigations have revealed that Kalate brothers entered into a partnership with Kanerias and others and obtained permission from the PCMC for constructing a building which was granted without verifying the ULC order. The CID said that the Kalates had filed returns under section 6 (1) of the Act on July 17, 2005, but investigations had revealed that they had concealed the fact of obtaining building permission on the basis of fake ULC order.

It took over four years of an assiduous investigation by a team of officers comprising Avinash Mokashi, Anil Bagalkot, Balkrishna Agashe and Sakunde to conclude the probe into the case and file the chargesheet. 

According to a report Patil stalled probe: affidavit published by Hindustan Times;

One of the accused in one of the cases is Yogesh Mhase, who was deputy resident collector of Pune when the alleged frauds took place. Mhase subsequently became the officer on special duty to Patil, a position he held when the CID began investigating cases in November 2006 and continues to hold till today.

According to the report published in this website, 

a meeting was held at Mantralaya in deputy chief minister RR Patil's chamber in September 2007 when the then state CID chief, SPS Yadav, and investigating officer Avinash Mokashi briefed the minister about the role of all government officers involved in the scam.

Continuing with HT Report Patil stalled probe: affidavit 

“After the meeting [with Patil], Yadav…directed [me] to maintain status quo on all ULC cases,” Avinash Mokashi, who was the investigating officer with the CID for the cases, says in a 65-page affidavit, a copy of which the HT has. 
In his affidavit filed with the high court on July 20 this year, Mokashi further revealed that, based on his recommendation, the department’s additional director general, Jayant Umranikar, had approved in January 2007 the arrest of Mhase and five other government officers in relation to one of the four cases. The police had already arrested ten others accused in the case.
In March 2007, Patil told the legislative assembly that the police was in the process of arresting Mhase and the five accused. The HT has copies of Patil’s statement in the assembly. But Patil not only failed to arrest Mhase, but earlier in the month transferred Umranikar out of the CID and replaced him with SPS Yadav. Patil also transferred Mokashi, in April 2008.
Mokashi filed the affidavit in connection with a public interest litigation petition [filed by state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Madhav Bhandari] filed in the high court in June 2008. The petitioner, Madhav Bhandari, requested the court to direct the government to arrest the accused, including Mhase. Because of the state’s “unwillingness” to “prosecute those guilty” and its wish to give them “a clean chit”, the government is cheated of surplus land, the petition says. Patil declined to meet the HT and did not respond to phone calls or text messages. Mhase said he did not wish to comment because the case was sub judice. Umranikar, who has retired, also declined to comment.
Justice BH Marlapalle asked on September 2.
“Mhase’s arrest was approved. Why has he still not been arrested?”
After the high court asked the government on September 2 this year why it had not arrested Yogesh Mhase, home minister R R Patil’s officer on special duty, and five others accused in a case of corruption and fraud filed in 2006 in Pune, the CID filed a charge sheet in connection with the case in a Pune court at the end of the month. It failed to include Mhase in the list of accused.
Instead it decided to arrest a Pune-based landowner, Laxman Dodke, 58, until then a complainant in another of the four cases. According to the CID’s records, Dodke approached them in September 2006 alleging that a local lawyer whom he had engaged had obtained a forged order in his name under the Act. The CID conducted a preliminary enquiry and registered a case on November 29, 2006 at the Deccan police station in Pune and arrested the lawyer. Last month, the CID changed its mind and decided Dodke was a beneficiary of the forged orders. P R Londhe, deputy superintendent of police, CID, who is investigating the case, declined to comment.
Dodke, through his advocate Shrikant Shivde, has sought anticipatory bail from a Pune sessions court, which has granted him protection and directed the CID to explain why it wants to arrest him. It will hear the matter on October 19.

The take aways from above reports

1. PIL was filed by state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Madhav Bhandari.
2. PIL requested the court to direct the government to arrest the accused, including Mhase. Because of the state’s “unwillingness” to “prosecute those guilty” and its wish to give them “a clean chit”, the government is cheated of surplus land.
3. It is neither about  an unname minister or “a former minister of state in the Shiv Sena-BJP government between 1995-1999 is said to have signed some of the orders” as media wants you to believe
4. Main player in this scam seems to be ex deputy chief minister RR Patil's who appointed a key accused Yogesh Mhase, as his officer on special duty. He also prevented arrest of some key accused including Yogesh Mhase,
   

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