It’s not something that comes as a surprise perhaps, but nearly one-third of the elected corporators of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have criminal cases registered against them.

According to a Right To Information (RTI) enquiry sought by The Indian Express from the Police Commissionerate, 44 of the city’s 144 elected corporators — 30 per cent — have had cases filed against them for criminal offences ranging from disturbing public peace to stabbing, possession of illegal weapons to even attempted murder.

In some instances, the number of cases against a corporator is as high as 20. Six women corporators are included in the list of offenders. While some of the corporators have been booked for relatively innocuous crimes like holding morchas or being involved in petty squabbles, a fairly large number have serious charges levied against them which include stabbing, eve-teasing, possession of illegal weapons, threat, extortion, running of gambling dens, making and selling illicit liquor, fraud and even attempt to murder. A few have also been booked under TADA and the MCOCCA.

“It is all hogwash and all the charges are made up by those envious of me,” said Nitin Jagtap who leads the list with some 20 cases registered against him. “I am called the king of the poor and the man who always blows the whistle on corrupt politicians.

“I am worth Rs 25 crore myself. So where is the need for me to indulge in illegal activities? There may be some four to five cases against me but they all have to do with my raising my voice against corruption,” the congressman added.

Congress and NCP corporators, incidentally, have the highest numbers of corporators in the dock — 12 each, followed by nine of the Shiv Sena, five from the BJP, four from the MNS and two independents. “It’s unfortunate but true that cash, caste and crime are all closely linked with politics,” said BJP corporator and Leader of the Opposition Vikas Mathkari.

“My party has always been against the criminalisation of politics and has asserted that those who have a proven criminal record should not be allowed to contest elections,” he asserted. “But our judicial system being so long drawn, criminals are allowed to contest till they are convicted of a crime and that is something that takes years to happen.”

Incidentally, Mathkari too has a charge against him for taking out a political morcha. He explained, “I have never been involved in any criminal activity in my life. But yes, there have been lots of morchas I have taken part in for public and social causes and that can never be called a crime.”

Corporator Ujjwal Keskar denied having any criminal case against him despite the five cases revealed by the records, including one under the Arms Act. “There is no truth in this. I am not involved in a single criminal case and no one has ever interrogated me on one either,” he claimed.

Commissioner of Police Jayant Umranikar declined to comment on the findings on the corporators but admitted that there cannot be any doubt on information given under the RTI. “It has to be 100 per cent correct data,” he said.

Reaffirming this, DCP (Crime Branch) Anil Kumbhare said that many of the charges appeared to be political in nature —- like breach of prohibitory orders, unlawful assembly of persons and holding morchas. He did admit, although, that there were also a string of serious charges ranging from stabbing and threats to extortion.