BJP leader Chitra Wagh’s husband booked by ACB for ‘possessing disproportionate assets’

Kishore Wagh was arrested in 2016 for 'accepting bribe'.

The state Anti-Corruption Bureau has booked Kishore Wagh, the husband of BJP’s Maharashtra unit vice-president Chitra Wagh, for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets. The officials said that Kishore, who used to work as a medical record librarian, was arrested along with two others in 2016 for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh.

The ACB officials, in their FIR, stated that during the course of the investigation into the case, they learnt that Wagh’s husband Kishore has 90 per cent more assets then the assets he should have had between December 1, 2006, and July 5, 2016 through his legitimate source of income. The officials said that they came across inconsistencies between his income and assets, due to which an FIR was registered on February 12 this year.

Since the time of his arrest in 2016, Kishore has been under suspension. He was released on bail later. Chitra Wagh had left the Nationalist Congress Party in 2019 to join the BJP.

Over the last few days, Wagh has been one of the most vocal BJP leaders to demand an inquiry against state Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod, following the death of Pooja Chavan, a 22-year-old woman who allegedly died by falling off a building at Hadapsar area of Pune on February 8. Claiming that she has died under mysterious circumstances, BJP has been linking Rathod, who is a four-time legislator, to her death.

According to ACB officials, when Kishore was working at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital at Parel, he had allegedly demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs 4 lakh. He and two others, including Hospital Mdical Superintendent Gajanan Bhagat and one Sandesh Kambale, were arrested on July 5, 2016. They had allegedly demanded money from the brother of a deceased person. Following the arrest, the ACB had conducted a search at Kishore’s house in hospital staff quarters and seized several documents.

The officials said that in February 2017, an open inquiry was ordered against Kishore and since then, they have been closely assessing and analysing his income and ancestral properties.

In the FIR, the ACB stated that Kishore has assets worth Rs 2.18 crore, which is 90 per cent more than his legitimate source of income. “We have come across major inconsistency with 90 per cent of the assets he currently has. These assets are mainly based in Mumbai, Nashik and Pune,” said an officer.

A case has been registered under sections 13(2) and 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

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