Some civil contractors have said that Santosh Patil, who had accused the former Minister K.S. Eshwarappa of corruption, had neither spent money nor carried out the road works in Hindalga Gram Panchayat. What is more, they accused Santosh Patil of having collected bribe from them to get their bills cleared.
Santosh Patil was found dead in a hotel in Udupi a few days ago. He had accused Mr. Eshwarappa of seeking bribe for clearing bills. He also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the Minister of corruption.
“Santosh Patil falsely claimed that he had spent ₹4 crore on civil works in the village. That is not true. We spent our money on them and completed the works. Our bills are pending. Not his,” Raju Jadhav, one of the 12 small contractors who spoke to journalists in Gokak on Monday, said.
The contractors met the former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi in Gokak before addressing presspersons.
“We carried out the works after Santosh Patil and Nagesh Munnolkar, gram panchayat president, told us to carry out the works. Santosh Patil told us he had the work orders. But now we know he was lying,’’ Mr. Jadhav said.
“We have spent money and carried out the road works in Hindalga village and not Santosh Patil. We came to meet [Mr.] Ramesh Jarkiholi along with Mr. Munnolkar. After that, Santosh Patil took us to Mr. Eshwarappa. But the Minister made no demands about any commission,’’ Mr. Jadhav said.
He said that he had no idea about what transpired between Santosh Patil and the Minister, including the award of work orders.
Meanwhile, another contractor Balakrishna Dhandagalkar accused Congress leader and MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar of having tried to stop the works. “She kept calling officers, asking them to stop the works, citing reasons of quality or approval. But she was upset only because the BJP workers were doing the works and not her supporters,’’ he said.
He accused Ms. Hebbalkar of creating problems for Santosh Patil while he was alive. “Now that he is dead, she is acting as if she is protecting his family’s interest,’’ he said. “Santosh Patil had told me he was related to Ms. Hebbalkar. But I don’t know if it is true,’’ he said.
Contractor Sunil Chougale accused Santosh Patil of collecting bribe from them, by falsely promising to get their bills cleared. “All of us together have paid ₹98 lakh to Santosh Patil, hoping that he will get our bills cleared,’’ he said.
