Maharashtra drama: ACB closes Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam case against Ajit Pawar

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Maharashtra on Monday gave a clean chit to deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in the Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam. The investigating agency has also closed the probe into the scam.

After becoming chief minister in 2014, the Devendra Fadnavis government had given the go-ahead for an ACB inquiry into the irrigation scam involving Ajit Pawar and other top NCP leaders — a probe that was ongoing till Monday.

The Vidarbha scam is related to the alleged graft in approval and execution of various irrigation projects during the Congress-NCP rule. Ajit Pawar was among the ministers who were in charge of the irrigation department at different times between 1999 and 2014.

The ACB move comes just two days after Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. In a dramatic turn of events, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn-in by



Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at 8 am on Saturday at a hush-hush ceremony in Raj Bhavan here, leading to the lifting of the President's rule in the state.

The BJP was propped up by NCP's Ajit Pawar who revolted against his party headed by his uncle Sharad Pawar.

The BJP and the Sena, which fought the last month's Assembly polls in an alliance, secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively.

The Sena, however, broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister's post. The NCP and Congress won 54 and 44 seats respectively.

Earlier, in the morning, the Supreme Court has reserved its order on the Maharashtra floor test for 10.30 am Tuesday after hearing the plea filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine against the Maharashtra governor's decision to swear in Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister.