Poll affidavit case: Devendra Fadnavis appears before Nagpur court, denies allegations

Satish Uke, an advocate, had moved the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) in 2014 seeking criminal proceedings against Fadnavis for allegedly not disclosing cases of cheating and forgery against him 1996 and 1998 in his poll affidavit. The legal battle eventually shifted to the High Court and later to the Supreme Court.

On Saturday, Fadnavis appeared before civil judge V A Deshmukh at 12 pm with his lawyers where they were given a 35-page document with 110 questions. According to the lawyers, after due discussion with them, Fadnavis himself wrote down the answer to each question.

The court recorded Fadnavis’s statement in written format under section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), according to which, the court can put forth questions to an accused on evidence relied upon by the complainant in the case.

Fadnavis denied all allegations made by the complainant and stated that he had not committed any “crime or wrongdoing”, his lawyers said.

The court will hear the matter for final arguments on May 6.

The Supreme Court, in 2019, had passed an order on a petition by Satish Uke challenging an order of the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court exonerating Fadnavis in the matter in 2018. The apex court had directed the Nagpur court to rehear the affidavit case, against which Fadnavis had filed a review plea in the SC. The SC in March, 2020 had dismissed his review plea.

Uke, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March last year in connection with a money laundering case, is currently lodged in jail.