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Nationalist Congress Party Member of Parliament Padamsinh Patil, who has been detained for questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the case of murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar, was taken to a government hospital after he complained of chest pain on Sunday.
"The CBI has been recording Patil's statement since last night and he was taken to the J J Hospital after he complained of chest pain and low Blood Pressure," CBI Superintendent of Police Amitabh Thakur said in Sunday.
The central agency, however, declined to confirm if the former Maharashtra minister has been arrested, stating that
the Lok Sabha Speaker has been informed about the development in the three-year-old case since Patil is an MP.
Patil was elected to Lok Sabha from Osmanabad in Marathwada region in the parliamentary polls. Nimbalkar and his driver were shot dead in a car on June 3, 2006 at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai.
The CBI, which took over the case last year, has arrested four persons -- Parasmal Jain, Dinesh Tiwari, Mohan Shukla and Satish Mandadae. They are in CBI custody till June 9.
Jain is said to have told the Mumbai Crime Branch, which handled the case initially, that he was paid 'supari' (contract amount) of Rs 30 lakh by Patil to eliminate Nimbalkar due to business rivalry.
The CBI last week had also recorded the statements of Nimbalkar's son and wife, Omraje and Anandidevi. Patil has denied any involvement in the murder case terming the charge as a "malicious political campaign to malign my image."
"Political rivals are using selective leaks and disjointed information to link me with an issue that is totally unrelated. This has been done post my Osmanabad Lok Sabha election victory this year," Patil had said in a statement here on June 2.