The high-profile criminal case linked to the Balganga Dam irrigation scam in Maharashtra will now be heard by a new judge after the case—which involves allegations of a multi-crore loss to the state exchequer—was
shifted through an administrative order.
The case was investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which, in 2016, filed a massive charge sheet running into nearly 30,000 pages. The ACB has alleged that the scam caused a loss of over Rs 92 crore to the government. Contractor Nisar Khatri and several officials linked to the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KIDC) are among the accused.
The case languished in a special court in Thane and it was only in 2025 that special judge GT Pawar framed charges against all accused, formally setting the trial in motion.
However, in December 2025, Khatri approached the Principal District Judge, Thane, seeking a transfer of the case from Judge Pawar. The plea was dismissed strongly by principal district judge SB Agrawal, who termed the application baseless and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the accused.
However, the case has now been shifted from judge Pawar to judge Durgaprasad Deshpande through an administrative decision.
The scam had once dented the image of the then Congress-NCP government, with then opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis aggressively highlighting it as a symbol of corruption.
