Maharashtra: CBI books ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. File pic

The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) has registered a fresh FIR against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh for allegedly trying to frame BJP leaders in false cases. Deshmukh has called it a baseless case, triggering yet another verbal war between the Opposition and ruling parties ahead of the Assembly polls.

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, the CBI officers told agencies in New Delhi. The probe was handed over to the CID and later to the CBI.

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The 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 Vidya Prasarak Sahakari Samaj Limited (educational institution)," the FIR has alleged.

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.

One of the BJP leaders, Girish Mahajan, currently a cabinet minister, had addressed a press conference recently, reiterating the allegations against Deshmukh. Fadnavis had alleged in his speech in the Legislative Assembly that the case was fabricated to arrest Mahajan under the stringent MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act).

Deshmukh reacted to the case on social media platform ‘X'. He thanked Fadnavis for the false and baseless case. "This conspiracy started after the ground beneath the feet of Fadnavis slipped away after seeing the opinion of the public. I do not begrudge such threats and pressure at all. Unflinchingly, I have vowed to fight against this oppression of BJP," he posted on X.

Deshmukh said people should see how low-level and "perverted" dirty politics is being done by Fadnavis in Maharashtra. "In the Lok Sabha elections, the people have given place to this conspiracy leadership… now the people of Maharashtra are waiting for the assembly elections," he said.

Interestingly, Deshmukh is tipped to be the MVA's Assembly election candidate against Fadnavis in Nagpur's South-West constituency. Currently, he is an MLA of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) from Katol in Nagpur district. In another case related to the corruption charges levelled by Param Bir Singh, the former chief of Mumbai Police, Deshmukh had spent over a year in jail. He was released on bail in December 2022.

With inputs from agencies