Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh quits as HC orders probe into assets

MUMBAI: Mumbai Congress received a major jolt on Wednesday after the high court ordered the police to carry out an investigation into allegations of criminal misconduct by city president Kripashankar Singh. The court ordered the Mumbai police commissioner to collect documentary evidence regarding all movable and immovable properties owned by Singh. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan later said Kripashankar Singh had resigned from his post.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by activist Sanjay Tiwari, who alleged that the Congress MLA had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. The court while keeping the PIL pending, has directed the police to file a compliance report on April 19.

“The commissioner of police shall obtain sanction from the government to prosecute Kripashankar Singh for criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” a division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Roshan Dalvi said.

The bench said CP Arup Patnaik shall collect documentary evidence regarding all movable and immovable properties of Kripashankar and his family, including his wife, son and daughter-in-law, who will also be prosecuted for aiding the crime.

“...We do not want to pass any directions regarding the bank accounts of the respondents as it is alleged that the money might have been washed out. The PIL shall be treated as an FIR and the report submitted by the state anticorruption bureau in March 2011 showing Kripashankar’s income and expenditure shall be treated as investigation,” the court said.