CBI books Anil Deshmukh for trying to 'frame' BJP leaders in false cases

Anil Deshmukh. File Pic/X

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday booked Maharashtra home minister and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh for allegedly trying to 'frame' BJP leaders in false cases, the officials said, according to the PTI.

The CBI lodged the case after a two-year preliminary enquiry which originated from a pen drive handed over to the then Maharashtra Assembly speaker by Devendra Fadnavis who was then the leader of the opposition, they said.

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The probe was handed over to the CID and later to the CBI.

According to the PTI, prima facie findings of the CBI preliminary enquiry show that Special Public Prosecutor Pravin Pandit Chavan conspired with one Vijay Bhaskarrao Patil, who acted as complainant, and the then home minister Anil Deshmukh to file a zero FIR on December 9, 2020 at Nimbhora Jalgaon police station related to a two-year-old incident in Pune "to falsely implicate BJP leaders and others to wrest control of the Jalgaon Zilla Maratha Vidhya Prasarak Sahakari Samaj Limited (Educational institution)," the FIR has alleged.

"Later, the zero FIR was transferred to Pune and registered on January 5, 2021," it said.

The CBI alleged that in furtherance to the criminal conspiracy, special public prosecutor Chavan, Patil and the then DCP Poornima Gaikwad and ACP Sushma Chavan, fabricated the statements of witnesses and evidence to falsely implicate the BJP leaders and other innocent persons.

Besides Deshmukh, the CBI has also named Chavan, Patil, Gaikwad and Sushma Chavan as accused in the FIR.

Reacting to the development, Anil Deshmukh termed the case as "baseless".

Anil Deshmukh claimed the CBI has registered a new "baseless" case against him, and attributed the "conspiracy" to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis getting panicked, the PTI reported.

Anil Deshmukh is already facing a CBI case for alleged corruption and another case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

"Another baseless case has been filed against me by the CBI. This conspiracy has started as Fadnavis has panicked after seeing the people's mandate. I am not scared at all by such threats and pressure," he said, adding that he has vowed to fight against the BJP's "repressive rule".

People should contemplate how Devendra Fadnavis was indulging in "perverse and low-level" politics, the leader of the Sharad Pawar-led party said, adding that voters put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its place in the Lok Sabha elections and now assembly polls were awaited.

Further details will be updated.

(with PTI inputs)