Arms haul from Padamsinh's two houses

MUMBAI: In a development that could spell more trouble for NCP leader Padamsinh Patil, accused of murdering a Congress leader and his driver, CBI has seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition as well as incriminating documents from Patil���s two houses.

A CBI team supervised by Western Region joint director Rishi Raj Singh raided two apartments owned by Patil in Colaba in south Mumbai late on Thursday, a CBI source said. Patil, 64, is accused of having murdered his cousin Pavan Raje Nimbalkar, a Congress leader, and his driver Samad Qazi in Navi Mumbai in July 2006.

An intensive search of the two premises owned by Patil yielded a rich haul of arms, ammunition, unaccounted cash worth Rs 7,26,000, incriminating documents, powerful walkie-talkie sets, computers and CDs, a CBI official said.

Among the weapons recovered are two rifles, one revolver, one pistol, a large quantity of ammunition and three swords. The documents seized by CBI pertain to a multi-million rupee fraud involving the Terna sugar factory, which Patil partly owns, and the murder case.

Patil, in CBI custody till Saturday, is among the six people arrested by CBI in the Nimbalkar murder case. CBI investigations have also revealed a plot to kill anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who had exposed the Terna sugar factory scam. Following his arrest June 7, Patil was suspended from NCP and top leaders sought to distance themselves from him.