CBI Books Ex-Maharashtra Home Minister for Trying to Frame BJP Leader

Mumbai:The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday booked former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for allegedly trying to frame BJP leaders in false cases. It is alleged that during his tenure as the state home minister Deshmukh through a special public prosecutor and certain police officers in Jalgaon attempted to implicate BJP leader Girish Mahajan in a false case.

The central agency has filed a fresh FIR against Mr. Deshmukh and four others, accusing them of conspiring to falsely implicate BJP leaders by fabricating witness statements and evidence. The accused include a former special public prosecutor, a lawyer, the then zonal deputy commissioner of police and an assistant commissioner of police, who are alleged to have colluded with Deshmukh.

In 2022, then Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis had handed over a pen drive to the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, which contained audio and video recordings from the office of Special Public Prosecutor Pravin Pandit Chavan, who was seen was talking about how he and the police are going to frame Mr. Mahajan.

According to the FIR, the CBI’s inquiry found that advocate Pandit Chavan conspired with Vijay Bhaskarrao Patil and Anil Deshmukh to file a zero FIR in December 2020 at Nimbhora Jalgaon police station. The FIR, linked to a two-year-old incident in Pune, was allegedly filed with the intent to falsely implicate BJP leaders and others in order to gain control over the Jalgaon Zilla Maratha Vidya Prasarak Sahakari Samaj Limited, an educational institution. The zero FIR was eventually transferred to Pune, where it was registered on January 5, 2021. The CBI has also accused former DCP Poornima Gaikwad and ACP Sushma Chavan of fabricating witness statements and evidence to support the conspiracy.

Mr. Deshmukh dismissed the CBI’s allegations as “baseless” and said it was a conspiracy against him by current Maharashtra home minister Devendra Fadnavis. Accusing the BJP leader of indulging in “dirty politics”, Mr. Deshmukh expressed confidence that the people of Maharashtra would see through the conspiracy ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. “Another baseless case has been filed against me by the CBI. This conspiracy has arisen because Mr. Fadnavis is panicking after realising the people’s mandate. I am not intimidated by such threats and pressure,” he said.

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, during an interview, said that former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray during his tenure wanted a case filed against Devendra Fadnavis. Mr. Shinde said that he had objected to this but Uddhav said it was necessary as Mr. Fadnavis was creating trouble for the MVA government.