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Journalism of Courage
After high voltage drama at a Virar hotel in Palghar district of Maharashtra amid allegations of distributing cash for votes, three FIRs were filed against BJP’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde, party candidate from Nalasopara Rajan Naik and more than 200 others by the Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar police on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, refuting allegations, Tawde said he was at the hotel for a meeting of BJP workers. “Today we had a meeting of party workers about tomorrow’s voting. The other side had a misunderstanding that I was here to distribute money. I request the Election Commission to conduct an unbiased inquiry,” he said.
One of the FIRs against Tawde and the others states that Rs 9.86 lakh cash, four liquor bottles, 500 envelopes and BJP candidate Rajan Naik’s promotional material were seized from the three rooms of the hotel.
Police officers told The Indian Express that two FIRs have been filed at the Tulinj police station against Tawde, Naik, party activists, office bearers and leaders, on a complaint by the members of the Flying Squad Team (FST) and a police head constable.
According to one of the FIRs (a copy of which is available with The Indian Express) lodged by FST member Raju Masale, acting on inputs received, when two FST teams reached the 5th floor of hotel Vivanta in Virar (East) around 12 noon, they found Tawde, Naik, and dozens of other BJP activists in the hall.
The FST units went to check the hotel rooms on the 4th floor and seized cash worth Rs 9 lakh, Rs 72,500 and Rs 14,000 from room numbers 405, 410, and 416, respectively. Besides cash, 500 envelopes, four bottles of liquor, and campaign material related to Naik were also found.
A police officer on condition of anonymity said this indicates that the cash was meant for influencing the voters in Nalasopara, the constituency from where Naik is contesting the Maharashtra Assembly election.
“Despite the end of the period meant for campaigning and promotion, the accused persons gathered at the hotel for a meeting and gave cash and liquor to voters, thus breached the model code of conduct,” Masale said in the FIR.
The second FIR was filed suo-moto by the police under Section 163 of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), for violating the police commissioner’s order and Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act for breaching the law of visiting other constituencies in the 48-hour period before the election.
The third FIR was filed against Tawde and the others for conducting a press conference amid the silence period ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls. The press conference was stopped midway by the EC officials.
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