Nagpur: In the multi-crore sports goods scandal of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), the Nagpur District and Sessions Court on Tuesday acquitted 101 of total 108 (seven died between court proceedings) accused as charges against them were not substantiated by the prosecution. The sports scandal in the NMC was exposed in 2000. The scandal in purchase of sports goods, allegedly involving 109 corporators, had been probed by a panel led by former IAS officer Nandlal Gupta in 2001.
According to reports, offences were framed against the then Sports Officer Sahebrao Raut, Asha Banarasi, MLAs Krishna Khopde, Vikas Kumbhare, former Mayors Kalpana Pande, Archana Dehankar, Vikram Pankule, Ramesh Singare, Anil Dhawad, Milind Ganar, Rajjan Chavria, Bandu Parwe, Yashwant Meshram, Raju Bahadure, Kishore Gajbhiye, Pramod Pendke among others.
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Thursday 13 March 2025
A police complaint against 109 Corporators was lodged under Section 420, 468 and 471 of IPC. The case was pending for one or the other reason for over two decades. Some of the 109 accused have also expired in these 22 years. The Corporators were accused of distributing sports material worth crores in their wards, even though there was no provision for the expense by NMC. Some of them are also accused of not delivering the sports material to the players despite picking it up from NMC stores.
The accused were represented by Adv Chandrashekhar Jaltare, Adv Lubesh Meshram, Adv Subhash Ghare, Adv Uday Dable and Adv Mohgaonklar.
