Conspiracy in Uddhav government to implicate Fadnavis and Shinde in a false case. (PTI)
State Bureau, Mumbai. According to a report submitted to the government by former Maharashtra Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla, an attempt was made to implicate BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and then undivided Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde in a false case when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister of the state.
This report, which came during the ongoing municipal elections in the state, has further heated up the political atmosphere. Now a recommendation has been made to register a case against three officers including former DGP Sanjay Pandey in this matter.
An alleged conspiracy to implicate the then leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis and minister in the then Uddhav government Eknath Shinde by reopening an old case registered in 2016 at Thane Nagar police station has come to light in the report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
This report was submitted by former DGP Rashmi Shukla to the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) last week, five days before her retirement on January 3. The SIT was formed to investigate the matter after it was raised in the legislature by BJP Legislative Council member Praveen Darekar after the Shinde government came to power in the state.
According to sources, SIT investigation has revealed that in the year 2016, a case was registered against Shyamsundar Aggarwal in Thane Nagar police station, which was related to the partnership dispute between Aggarwal and builder Sanjay Punmiya. Charge sheet was also filed in this case in the year 2017. Despite this, after being made DGP in the Uddhav government, Sanjay Pandey had ordered to re-investigate the matter.
Following Pandey's order, Thane's then Deputy Commissioner Laxmikant Patil and Assistant Commissioner Sardar Patil had put pressure on the witnesses to change their statements and add the names of Fadnavis and Shinde. In this case, Sanjay Punmiya has alleged that he was harassed in the name of re-investigation of the old case from 2021 to June 2024, and money was demanded from him.
SIT has also conducted forensic investigation of the audio-video recording given by Punmiya, in which the conversation between police officer Sardar Patil, town planner Dilip Gheware and Punmiya has been confirmed.
It has also been confirmed that the then DGP Sanjay Pandey asked in the conversation why Fadnavis and Shinde were not arrested. Now in the report submitted by Rashmi Shukla to the government, it has been recommended to investigate the matter by registering an FIR against former DGP Sanjay Pandey and two other police officers.