May 7: State Youth Congress president Jitendra Avhad alias Bunty was arrested on Wednesday by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (Thane unit) along with four others in a Rs 175-crore land scam.

Balchandra M Koli, a resident of Chendani Koliwada had claimed before the Thane district collector and the Konkan revenue commissioner that thousands of acres of land belonging to his father were transferred to the government without his knowledge. Koli and the others allegedly fabricated records in the Revenue Department and Avhad was made a party to bring in political pressure. They again applied to the government for allotment. However, the ACB closed in and filed a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code. It booked Koli, Avhad, Makrand Paringe, Sandeep Prabhu (both architects) and Pritam Deoolkar, a clerk in the Food and Civil Supplies Department in Mantralaya.

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