Mumbai:  A local court in Maharashtra has sentenced several convicts, including two former ministers of the state, in the housing scam. The sessions court in Maharashtra's Dhule district sentenced former state minister Suresh Jain and Gulabrao Devkar, along with 46 others, to three to seven years in prison after being convicted in a multi-crore 'gharkul' housing scam. Special judge Srishti Neelkanth sentenced Suresh Jain to seven years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on him. Devkar was sentenced to five years of imprisonment, while the remaining 46 convicts were sentenced to jail terms of three to seven years. The accused include Jain and Devkar, as well as some former municipal councillors and officials.

Pakistan is using fake media to spread rumours about Kashmir

All the 48 accused present in the court were taken into custody after the court gave its verdict. Shiv Sena leader Jain was arrested on March 2012. He was the Minister of State for Home Affairs (during the 1990s) during the Rs 29 crore housing project scam. Nationalist congress party leader Devkar was arrested in May 2012. He has spent three years in jail before getting bail. He was a councillor in Jalgaon Municipal Council from 1995 to 2000.

CM Gehlot liked the work of Vasundhara Raje, Praised the startup!

He was accused of favouring a builder and indulging in irregularities of Rs 29 crore. Jain favoured Khandesh Builders, who was given the contract to build the house under the Gharkul scheme. In February 2006, a complaint was filed by Praveen Gedam, a former Municipal Commissioner of Jalgaon. Out of 5,000 houses to be built on the outskirts of Jalgaon, only 1,500 houses were completed. Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra in the next few months.

Congress MP K. Muraleedharan said this while targeting Shashi Tharoor