Information commissioner quits over Maharashtra Sadan scam

The ongoing investigation into the multi-crore Maharashtra Sadan scam claimed its first major victim in Information Commissioner D.B. Deshpande of the Aurangabad Division as he quit under a cloud, officials said here on Monday.

Maharashtra Governor C.V. Rao accepted Deshpande's resignation following his alleged involvement in the scam in which the names of former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal and others have also surfaced.

"The governor has accepted the resignation of state Information Commissioner, Aurangabad, D. B. Deshpande. Deshpande had submitted his resignation to the governor on June 23," said a Raj Bhavan spokesperson.

Deshpande was appointed to the post in 2010. His name figures in a first information report filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau against Bhujbal and 16 others, including Deshpande.

The scam pertains to the awarding of a contract for constructing Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi a few years ago.

During ACB raids it was revealed that Deshpande owned five flats, three in Pune, and one each in Thane and Aurangabad. It was also found that he owned a five hectare farmhouse, four plots and two shops in Aurangabad besides two shops in Nashik.

Deshpande was among the nine officials besides Bhujbal, whose residential and office premises were searched in Maharashtra last fortnight.