BJP MLA Suresh Dhas from Ashti in Maharashtra’s Beed district alleged at a press conference that Maharashtra Food & Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde and his close associate Valmik Karad masterminded a Rs 300-crore scam when Munde was agriculture minister in the previous Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government, between July 2, 2023 and November 2024.
Though most of the allegations made by Dhas were also made a couple of days ago by anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania, what is new and significant in the allegations made by Dhas is that Munde also allegedly ran a cash bribe for transfers and promotions of officials racket worth Rs 100 crore, when Munde was agriculture minister.
Incidentally, Dhananjay Munde also belongs to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, like present Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate who received bail in a case of fraud on Thursday.
BJP MLA Suresh Dhas also produced a “bribe rate card” which Munde had allegedly charged to give favourable transfers to officials in the Maharashtra Agriculture ministry, which is too exhaustive and voluminous to be detailed here, but a brief portion of Munde’s alleged bribe “rate card” has been detailed below.
According to Munde’s alleged rate card, the transfer rate of a Zonal Agriculture Officer was Rs 3,00,000 (Rs 3 lakh), while Taluka Agriculture Officers had to pay Munde Rs 5,00,000 (Rs 5 lakh).
Technical Officers had to pay Munde Rs 4,00,000 (Rs 4 lakh), while Sub-Divisional Agriculture Officers paid Rs 7,00,000 (Rs 7 lakh), while Deputy Directors of agriculture allegedly paid Rs 5,00,000 (Rs 5 lakh) to Munde.
District Superintendent Agriculture Officers allegedly paid Munde a minimum of Rs 9,00,000 (Rs 9 lakh) and a maximum Rs 30,00,000 (Rs 30 lakh), depending on the availability of districts and schemes, while Divisional Joint Director of Agriculture typically paid upto Rs 80,00,000 (Rs 80 lakh).
For the post of Director, Director Input and Quality Control, the going rate was allegedly Rs 5,00,00,000 (Rs 5 crore), while other directors paid Rs 2,00,00,000 (Rs 2 crore). Technical Officer Fertilisers paid Rs 1,00,00,000 (Rs 1 crore), while Agricultural Officer Fertilisers paid Rs 60,00,000 (Rs 60 lakh), as per the rate card revealed by BJP MLA Suresh Dhas.
As per the rate card, in order to stay close to one’s family for any other post, at least Rs 2,50,000 (two lakh fifty thousand) had to be paid for transfers.
BJP MLA Dhas alleged that at least Rs 25,00,000 (Rs 25 lakh) to Rs 1,00,00,000 (Rs 1 crore) were taken by Munde to close the investigation of the officers whose inquiries were underway. When transfers and promotions of all officers and employees were inspected and studied, 70% to 80% of the changes were found to be made without the recommendations of the Civil Service Board.
In all these transfers and promotions of officials, the then Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde had allegedly appointed certain agents at the Agriculture Commissionerate level and throughout the state of Maharashtra. MLA Dhas also alleged that if call data records (CDR) report is accessed, the names of all the agents would be revealed.
Dhas said that a special investigation team (SIT) must be set up to probe the alleged scam, adding that it is surprising NCP chief and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has not sought Munde’s resignation so far.
Dhas said that he plans to file a detailed complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Maharashtra state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
“Munde said that he will file a defamation case against Anjali Damania. He should also file a defamation case against me if he believes that whatever I have alleged is wrong,” BJP MLA Suresh Dhas said.