16 Jan : Jaspal Singh President and other office bearer of Anti Corruption Society Paid their tributes to Social activist Satish Shetty (39), who had blown the whistle on a series of land scams in and around Talegaon, Lonavala and Pimpri-Chinchwad near here, and was brutally murdered by some unidentified assailants near his residence at Talegaon-Dabhade on Wednesday morning. Jaspal Singh announced that Lt. Sh. Shetty was cop without uniform to oppose the corruption.
An anti-corruption crusader for the last 15 years, Shetty had started wielding the Right to Information
Act (RTI) Act to expose the irregularities in government offices since the last five years. His brother, Sandeep (34), told the police in his complaint that Shetty may have been murdered by some persons whom he had exposed. He said his brother had exposed many land scams in and around Talegaon.
Senior police inspector Bhausaheb Andhalkar of the local crime branch, Pune rural, said Shetty had used the RTI Act to expose the setting up of restaurants and marriage halls in residential zones.
The murder shocked citizens and civic activists in Pune and all over India and forced to protest against the killing. Jaspal Singh President of Anti Corruption Society told that the suspected assailants are open and could be identified easily as they could be the names suffered due to expose of corruption by Late Sh. Shetty and hid brother Sandeep and should be immediately booked.
Shetty’s murder is a major embarrassment for the police as he had demanded police protection after having received threats to his life. Jaspal Singh President of Anti Corruption Society from chandigarh demanded the action from Govt. against such police officials who had neglected the facts about threats to the life of Satish Shetty.
Shetty’s friends and colleagues, who worked with him in Talegaon said the bungalow of the former elected office-bearer had been constructed on railway land, without permission from the municipal council. After the expose, the bungalow had been demolished. In an earlier exposure, Shetty had revealed how a builder had constructed a bungalow on government-owned land.
In the kerosene distribution case, it was revealed that a large number of bogus ration card-holders had been created and using these cards, their quota of kerosene had been sold in the black market. In another case, Shetty had exposed how fake land and property deals were being registered in Lonavla.
Shetty also unearthed a scam in which a government-appointed office-bearer had allegedly given false information about his birth date to earn government benefits; and he had also been instrumental in exposing irregularities in land reservations. Jaspal Singh President and other office bearer of Anti Corruption Society from Chandigarh demanded action against the corrupt officials for their offences of corruption as well as for other criminal offences.
His fellow activists and supporters have demanded that the investigations be handed over to the state CID with the condition that if the investigating team had concealed the facts, then they could also be prosecuted.