Maharashtra government has formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the alleged conspiracy during the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi’s tenure to “file false cases” against Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the alleged conspiracy during the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi’s tenure to “file false cases” against Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde. The SIT will be headed by Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Mumbai Satyanarayan Choudhary.
The four-member SIT will also include Rajiv Jain, Deputy Inspector General of the State Reserve Police Force; Navnath Dhavle, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai police, and Adikrao Pol, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mumbai.
The government resolution (GR) stated that the SIT was formed on the basis of information shared by the BJP's Pravin Darekar in the Maharashtra legislative council during the winter session in December 2024. Darekar had claimed that there was a conspiracy to register false cases against Fadnavis and Shinde.
Fadnavis, who is now the chief minister, was then the leader of opposition. Shinde, who is presently Fadnavis’ deputy along with Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, was then the urban development minister in the government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Darekar had also displayed a pen drive in the legislative council claiming that it contained a video of a sting operation and an audio clip of a conversation between senior police officials regarding the MVA government’s alleged conspiracy in 2022 to frame the two leaders.
The four-member SIT has been given 30 days to complete the probe and also give recommendations about the action to be taken against the concerned officer after the probe.
Last year, in August, a first information report was registered against former Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey, Assistant Commissioner of Police Sardar Patil and Inspector Manohar Patil, accusing them of pressuring a Thane businessman to make allegations against Fadnavis and Shinde, based on which a case could be filed against the two leaders.
