Nagpur/New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a fresh FIR against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and four others, accusing them of conspiring to falsely implicate BJP leaders by fabricating witness statements and evidence. The accused include a former Special Public Prosecutor, a lawyer, the then Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police and an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who are alleged to have colluded with Deshmukh.
Deshmukh, who is already facing corruption charges, was previously arrested by both the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
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Wed 16 Oct. 2024
As per the fresh FIR, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, an Opposition leader in March 2022, presented a video recording to the Deputy Speaker during an Assembly session when Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government was in power. Fadnavis alleged that Special Public Prosecutor Pravin Pandit Chavan, who is one of the accused, had discussed “framing BJP leaders” in Maharashtra. In response, then Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil announced a CID investigation into Fadnavis’s allegations.
“Devendra Fadnavis subsequently handed over the pen drive containing relevant information to the CID through the Director General of Police, Maharashtra. The pen drive related to the role of special public prosecutor Pravin Pandit Chavan in connection with Cr No 03/2021 of Kothrud Police Station, Pune,” the CBI FIR filed on July 31 states.
The FIR states that BJP leader Girish Mahajan and 28 others were booked in Pune following allegations by Vijay Patil, a lawyer and Director of Jilha Maratha Vidyaprasarak Sahakari Samaaj, a cooperative educational institute in Jalgaon. Patil claimed he was coerced under threat into resigning from his position and was forcibly confined in Pune in 2018, where an attempt was made to extort money from him, and he was threatened with false charges. He also alleged forgery by some suspects with an aim to control the Jalgaon-based institute.
The case was initially registered at Nimbhora police station in Jalgaon in December 2020 and later transferred to Kothrud police station in Pune.
After the formation of Eknath Shinde Government in mid-2022, the Maharashtra Government directed the transfer of investigations — involving sensitive call recordings from the State Intelligence Department (SID) and the Pune case, where BJP leader Girish Mahajan and 28 others were booked — to the CBI.
The CID’s inquiry into Chavan was also transferred to the CBI, which found that “Chavan is clearly seen plotting and drawing up conspiracies in the video recording, in complicity with high-ranking police officials to frame various prominent BJP leaders”.
The FIR claims that Chavan was involved in orchestrating false cases against BJP leaders, including drafting FIRs, tutoring witnesses, arranging cash payments, and instructing investigating officers. The accused also reportedly planted evidence, staged raids and manipulated cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
The preliminary inquiry uncovered that Chavan, Patil, and Deshmukh conspired to falsely implicate BJP leaders and others to gain control of the Jalgaon Zilla Maratha Vidya Prasarak Sahakari Samaj (educational institution). They were found to have colluded with then Deputy Commissioner of Police Poornima Gaikwad and ACP Sushma Chavan (the investigating officer in the Pune case) to fabricate witness statements and evidence.
