05 March,2024 06:13 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Anil Desai/ PTI
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai appeared before the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Tuesday in connection with an alleged Rs 50 crore withdrawal from the party.
The investigation was initiated by a complaint lodged by a Shiv Sena functionary linked with the group of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The suit claims that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) took Rs 50 crore from the party budget notwithstanding the Election Commission's (EC) recognition of the Shinde faction as the legitimate Shiv Sena, reported PTI.
According to the report, the EOW initiated an investigation into possible cheating and forgery in the withdrawal of party funds and summoned Anil Desai for interrogation.
According to another mid-day report, the EOW, which launched an investigation into the affair, had sought assistance from the Income Tax department in determining the taxpaying organisation for the bank accounts, especially since the ECI's judgement accepted the Shinde faction as the genuine Sena. People close to the development had told the newspaper that there were three Shiv Sena accounts from which cash was sent to the Uddhav camp's account.
Desai, representing the Shiv Sena (UBT), appeared before EOW investigators at the Mumbai Police Commissioner's Office in south Mumbai at 10:45 a.m. Responding to reporters' questions outside the EOW office, Desai accepted the allegation against his party and confirmed their participation with the preliminary investigation, the report read.
"There was a complaint about our party and they have called for the preliminary enquiry," Desai told media.
The schism within the Shiv Sena began in June 2022, when Eknath Shinde rebelled, bringing down the Thackeray-led Maharashtra government. The Election Commission's designation of the Shinde-led faction as the legitimate Sena in February 2023 heightened tensions inside the party.
