Maharashtra: Devendra Fadnavis hints at ‘plot’ to blackmail

Chief Minister Devandra Fadnavis with his wife Amruta Fadnavis. File pic

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that attempts were being made to trap him and his family in criminal cases. The statement came following Opposition leader Ajit Pawar's query about a news report on Thursday. "I got a hint that my family was being trapped. Efforts were made to get me arrested but they did not find anything against me," he said. "My wife was pressured into doing some work through me. She was first offered money and later blackmailed. Anil Jaisinghani, who has been absconding for years and has 14-15 police cases filed against him, is behind this," he said.

The bribe offer

According to Fadnavis, the woman told Amruta Fadnavis that her father shared information with bookies who were raided and earned money from both sides. "She offered to conduct such raids to make money if Amruta helped. My wife refused. Then the woman offered Amruta R1 crore to rescue her father. This followed videos and messages from an unknown number," he claimed.

In one of the fake videos, the woman was seen putting money in a bag, which was later handed to Amruta's assistant, Fadnavis said, adding that the woman had recorded every conversation with his wife. "My wife was threatened that this video will shut my shop (career)... The FIR was not published because the police wanted to catch the culprits and advised us to engage with them," he said. He alleged that the investigation revealed names of senior police officers and political leaders. He did not mention who they are.

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Allegations against ex-CP

Fadnavis claimed that the accused had said the previous commissioner police (CP) had started to withdraw the cases against Jaisinghani, but it stopped when the new (Shinde Sena-BJP) government came to power. Later in the day, police detained Anil's son Akshan for questioning.

Fadnavis later told reporters, "The conspiracy will be revealed when the man [Anil] is arrested, and we will also know whether it is political. It is difficult to say at this stage because the accused has taken so many names and the truth will come out only after the inquiry. They [accused] are also saying that they will name the people we want. So, we cannot trust these people. What will happen when someone takes our names? I will come up with more evidence once I get it. Some evidence will be part of the charge sheet."