Mumbai, June 7 (IANS): Nationalist Congress (NCP) MP Padamsinh Patil, who was nabbed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) early Sunday, has been charged with the murder of his cousin and Congress leader Pavan Raje Nimbalkar in 2006, a law official said.
Senior Public Prosecutor Ejaz Pathan said that Patil has been charged under the Indian Penal Code Section 302 and 120-B, dealing with murder and conspiracy to murder, respectively.
Meanwhile, in his home town Osmanabad, Patil's supporters went on a rampage protesting against their leader's arrest. According to police, the angry protesters pelted stones at and damaged several private vehicles and two state transport buses.
Patil, a former state home minister, was rushed to a Mumbai hospital early Sunday following complaints of headache, giddiness and hypertension, according to officials.
"We are awaiting his discharge from the Sir J.J. Hospital. As soon as he is discharged, he will be brought to the Panvel court," Pathan told IANS.
Elected last month from Osmanbad Lok Sabha constituency, Patil was questioned, detained and subsequently arrested for the murder and conspiracy to kill his cousin Nimbalkar.
Top officials of the CBI western region went to the hospital and consulted the medicos before planning their further course of action.
Patil is due to be presented before the magistrate court at Panvel, around 100 km from here.
Mumbai Police have beefed up security around the hospital premises in south-Mumbai.
Nimbalkar, Patil's cousin, was shot dead by two gunmen at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai on July 3, 2006, after he was lured there under the pretext of striking a business deal.
Shooter Dineshram M. Tiwari (37) and his supervisor Parasmal T. Jain (47), were arrested by the CBI last week (May 25) for killing Nimbalkar and his driver Samad Qazi.
In their confessional recorded before a magistrate, the duo also made the sensational disclosure of receiving a Rs.2.50 million contract to eliminate renowned social worker and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, a Magsaysay award winner.
The contract to kill Nimbalkar and Hazare was allegedly given by two businessmen Mohan Shukla and Satish Mandade.
Jain said that he accepted the Rs.3 million contract to kill Nimbalkar since he had suffered business losses. He was facing financial problems and wanted money to cure himself of AIDS, he told police.
In police custody till Monday, Jain and Tiwari said that they refused the paid offer to kill Hazare.