Devendra Fadnavis Detained By Mumbai Police, Sharad Pawar Says Maharashtra Government Will Probe Allegations

Maharashtra leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis was detained during a protest in Mumbai demanding the arrest of senior NCP leaders Navab Malik today.

This comes a day after the former chief minister alleged that the leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi were conspiring to implicate senior BJP leaders in false cases and submitted a pen-drive containing the purported details about the same to the Maharashtra assembly deputy speaker. Fadnavis along with other BJP leaders were taking out a protest march from Azad Maidan in Mumbai demanding the sacking of Malik who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. They were taken to the Yellow gate police station and later released.

Fadnavis had on Tuesday alleged in the legislative assembly that the MVA government was using government agencies to frame false cases against BJP leaders in Maharashtra. The pen drive he submitted, he claimed, had 125 hours of video recordings as proof that showed special public prosecutor Pravin Chawan in conversation with police officials and alleged that he had tried to frame BJP leader Girish Mahajan in a 2018 incident that involved his personal assistant. He alleged that they were ‘trying to book Mahajan under the MCOCA by planting false evidence and creating fake witnesses that was all scripted by Chavan’.

Fadnavis had demanded a CBI inquiry of the same as the ‘state police too in involved’.

Meanwhile, responding to the allegations of Fadnavis, NCP leader Sharad Pawar today said the BJP was frustrated at not being able to destabilise the government. Calling the allegations false, Pawar counter alleged that the video recordings show that the central agencies were involved in carrying them out.

“I have heard that the recordings extend to 125 hours. If that is true, then you need to have the support of powerful agencies to execute this act. Such agencies are only available with the Union government. They have managed to enter a state government office and carry out hidden recordings for hours. I am sure the state government will probe the incident and also the veracity of the tapes,” said Pawar, as quoted by The Indian Express.

In a tweet, Pawar said there was no question of seeking the resignation of Nawab Malik and said that it was pointless to draw up connections between Malik and Dawood just because he is a Muslim leader. He added that they will stand strongly by Malik always as one party.

In a preceding tweet he added that making allegations on one hand and ordering raids on the other is clear indication of the misuse of the central machinery and that it wasn't respectable for a parliamentary democracy to be indulging in such acts. He added that MP Sanjay Raut had also brought up the matter of the 'misuse of central machinery’ in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and and wished that there is a detailed probe that delved deep into this matter.