Maha Minister Bacchu Kadu gets 2 months jail, fine in election case

Amravati (Maharashtra), Feb 11 (IANS) In an embarrassment for Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi government, a Minister of State was on Friday convicted in an election case and sentenced to 2 months simple imprisonment along with a fine.

The Chandurbazar Court in Amravati district has found Minister of State for Water Resources and Education Omprakash Baburao alias Bacchu Kadu guilty in a complaint pertaining to his 2014 election as MLA from Achalpur.

The court has pronounced a two-months simple imprisonment plus a fine of Rs 25,000, but has granted 30 days' time to appeal against the order.

The 3-time legislator was elected again as an Independent MLA from the same constituency and later elevated as MoS from the Shiv Sena quota in the MVA government headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

According to a complaint lodged in 2017 by a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Kadu had allegedly suppressed information about owning at least one flat in Mumbai in his 2014 election affidavit, and hence violated the provisions of the Representation of The People Act.

Among other things, the complainant demanded that his election should be set aside and he should be punished for hiding information in the poll affidavit.

After the trial lasting for nearly five years, the court pronounced the guilty verdict on Kadu, but Kadu said he would challenge the order in a higher court soon.

He told media persons that the allegations against him were misleading and he had not suppressed any information in his poll affidavit.

The flat he had bought in Mumbai in a society for legislators was against a loan, he had shown the loan amount in the election affidavit, so he had not committed any offence, Kadu claimed.

An aggressive leader from Amravati, Kadu was first elected from Achalpur in 2009, and repeated the feat in 2014 and 2019, and rewarded with a ministerial responsibility this time.