Nawab Malik-Devendra Fadnavis face-off gives drugs case a dramatic turn

Nawab Malik, Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray

Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has taken his fight over the drugs-on-cruise case straight into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp, by accusing former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the party of patronising the drug business. The BJP leader has dismissed the charges, saying he will expose Malik's links with the underworld.

Malik tweeted photos of Fadnavis and his wife Amruta with alleged drug peddler Jaideep Rana. He accused the BJP of influencing the probe and said on Monday that a person named Neeraj Gunde, who visited the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) Mumbai office, was Fadnavis's close associate.

Devendra Fadnavis and his wife, pictured here after voting, has been targeted because Nawab Malik could not target him. File pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Fadnavis dismissed the charges and promised to expose the minister's link with the underworld after Diwali. He did not deny his friendship with Gunde, but asked Malik to talk to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray before naming a person, who was also the Shiv Sena president's long-time friend.

Malik's charges

Continuing his tirade against the NCB, Malik went a step ahead after posting some pictures. He said Rana, who was seen with the ex-CM and his wife, was currently in jail for drug peddling. "Rana financed the River Anthem video featuring the ex-CM, his wife and ex-finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar. The drugs business was carried under the aegis of Fadnavis," said Malik, demanding a CBI or judicial inquiry into his allegations. He further accused Fadnavis of conspiring to defame political rivals and influencing the NCB probe.

Malik wanted to know Gunde's connection with Fadnavis. "This man was so powerful when Fadnavis was the CM. He had direct access to the CM's cabin and the offices of senior police officers and bureaucrats.

"What is Gunde doing by visiting the NCB office very often? He was very influential in the previous government and decided the transfers of police and bureaucrats. He was Fadnavis's (Sachin) Vaze," alleged the Minority Welfare and Skill Development minister.

He said Fadnavis would frequently visit Gunde's residence from where he planned everything. He also said that Gunde acted as Fadnavis' doot (messenger) whenever the then CM wanted rapprochement with Thackeray, whose party shared power with the BJP.

Fadnavis responds

Fadnavis said his wife has been targeted because Malik could not target him. "I will set off a bomb after Diwali. I will expose Malik's link with the underworld by placing the evidence before the media and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar." He said the person in the photo tweeted by Malik was a member of a content team River March organisation had hired four years ago. "My wife was connected to the Nadi Bachao campaign. The content team workers not only shot pictures with my wife but with me as well. River March, the organisation that made the River Anthem, has clarified on Sunday that a person in the picture was from a team they had hired for the project," said Fadnavis.

"If Malik can link me and our party to anyone using such photos, the NCP can also be called a mafia party, based on the arrest of the minister's son-in-law in a drug case," Fadnavis said, adding, "NCP pets a person like Vaze, not us. Malik, who had to quit as minister because of lying, is now doing this to save his son-in-law from NCB."

He suggested that Malik should ask Thackeray about Gunde, who had been the CM's friend much before the activist became friends with him. "Is it because Gunde exposes the NCP scams daily? Thackeray must have visited Gunde more than me, and Gunde must have visited Thackeray more than I had been to Matoshri. Take action against Gunde if you have the courage and evidence. I don't deny my relations with Gunde."

‘Won't spare my attacker'

At a press conference held on Monday evening, Amruta Fadnavis said she wasn't a politician, but a social worker, who had joined a good cause of rejuvenating Mumbai's four rivers. She said the person in the photo had been hired by the NGO that worked on the anthem. "There was no record of him as a punter then. He has been arrested by a Central agency after four years," she said.

"I have my own identity as a banker, social worker and singer. I will not spare whoever attacks me," she said, adding Malik will also be exposed at the right time. "They attack us because we don't have land banks and sugar mills. Since they have nothing to attack my husband with, they are deliberately dragging me into it," she said.