MVA 'conspiracy' to frame Fadnavis, Shinde in false cases: SIT records Pravin Darekar's statement

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The Mumbai Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday recorded Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Praveen Darekar's statement before Joint Commissioner of Law and Order Satyanarayan Chaudhary.

On January 31, the Maharashtra Home Department set up the SIT to probe into an alleged conspiracy of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime to register fabricated cases against Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde.

Chaudhary heads the team, which includes Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Rajiv Jain (State Reserve Police Force), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Mumbai Zone 6) Navnath Dhavale, and Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Adhik Rao Pol. The SIT is expected to submit its report within 30 days.

Darekar had made the allegations against the MVA government during the 2024 Nagpur Legislative Council session.

Fadnavis, who became Chief Minister (CM) for the third time after the Mahayuti coalition's victory in the elections in November 2024, was Leader of Opposition in the assembly during the MVA rule that lasted from November 2019 to June 2022.

Shinde, who is now a deputy CM in the Fadnavis government, was then part of the Thackeray-led cabinet as urban development minister. He then rebelled against Thackeray to become CM with the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) support.

Darekar had claimed that there was a conspiracy to register false cases against Fadnavis and Shinde. He also said that he had evidence in the form of audio recordings to back up his allegations.