No idea about ex-IPS officer Borwankar's claim against Ajit Pawar on Pune plot: Devendra Fadnavis

Devendra Fadnavis. File Pic

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said he has no idea or information about the sensational claim made against his cabinet colleague and rebel NCP leader Ajit Pawar about a Pune plot by former IPS officer Meeran Borwankar in her book.

Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, said he has not read Borwankar's book, 'Madam Commissioner'.

To a query on Borwankar's claim about a piece of prime land in Pune, he said, "I have no idea about it... I have not read that book. I have no information about it (the claim).

Borwankar was the Pune police commissioner between 2010 and 2012. In the book, the retired IPS officer has claimed the then-"district minister" insisted in 2010 that she complete the process of handing over an auctioned plot in Pune belonging to the police department to the winning bidder, who was later cited as an accused by the CBI in the 2G scam.

According to the book, the police officer refused to comply, stating the land would be useful for building new offices and residential quarters for the police department.

Ajit Pawar held the post of guardian minister of Pune district at the time, when the state had a Congress-NCP government. He joined the current BJP-Shiv Sena government as Deputy Chief Minister on July 2 after breaking away from the NCP along with a group of legislators.

To another query on drug case accused Lalit Patil, who escaped from custody early this month while undergoing treatment at state-run Sassoon Hospital in Pune, Fadnavis asserted he will be caught soon.

"We will find him, where will he go? His accomplices have been found, he will also be caught," said the home minister.

Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Vijay Wadettiwar of the Congress, speaking to the media in the city, alleged "many in power" were involved in the escape episode of Patil and also his drug racket.

"There is a collusion between them and hence he is still absconding," the Congress leader said.

On September 30, one Subhash Mandal was nabbed by the Pune police's Anti-Narcotics Cell outside Sassoon Hospital with two kilograms of mephedrone worth Rs 2 crore. Mandal told the police he got the drug from Patil through Rauf Shaikh, an employee at the hospital's canteen.

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