The case against BJP MLA Girish Mahajan, booked for extortion, criminal intimidation
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday presented before Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal video recordings which, according to his claims, contained the proof of a conspiracy to frame BJP leaders in the state, in particular Girish Mahajan, in false cases.
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Earlier this week, Fadnavis submitted a pen drive to the assembly chair which he said contained video recordings of over 125 hours and claimed that the MVA leaders hatched a conspiracy to frame Girish Mahajan. (File photo)Maharashtra leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday presented before Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal video recordings which, according to his claims, contained the proof of a conspiracy being hatched by leaders of the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, along with public prosecutor Pravin Chavan and some police officers, to frame Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the state, in particular MLA Girish Mahajan, in false cases.
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The case filed against Girish Mahajan and others
The case against Mahajan which Fadnavis referred to was registered with the Pune city police on January 4 2021, after it was transferred from the Jalgaon district police, where it was originally filed in December 2020.
In the FIR, Girish Mahajan and 28 others have been booked on the charges of extortion, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, causing hurt to extort confession or property, forgery and theft based on a complaint filed by one Vijay Patil, who is a lawyer and one of the directors of the Jilha Maratha Vidyaprasarak Sahakari Samaaj, a cooperative educational institute in Jalgaon.
The Pune police officials had said at the time that the crime was the fallout of a dispute between two groups taking control of the governing body of the said institution. Many of the 28 persons booked along with Mahajan belonged to the rival group to which complainant Patil belonged.
While the said sequence of events, as alleged in FIR, had taken place in early 2018, the FIR was registered in Jalgaon in December 2020 and transferred to Pune in January 2021.
The charges levelled in the FIR
The FIR had stated that as part of the criminal conspiracy involving the 29 accused, Patil was threatened to resign from his position as director. It stated that Patil was asked to come to Pune on the pretext of giving him some papers pertaining to the institute. Upon coming to Pune he was threatened to hand over the control of the institute and take Rs 1 crore in return or else he will be killed, the FIR said.
According to the FIR, Patil was taken to a flat in Sadashiv Peth area of Pune where he was beaten up, threatened at knifepoint and was confined in a room overnight after he was made to remove his clothes.
The FIR states that he was asked to bring resignations of all then serving directors or else face cases under the MPDA Act, (Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act, 1981) known as the Gunda Act. Some of the suspects in the case were also accused of forcefully entering the office premises of complainant Patil in Jalgaon and threatening people with an axe.
Have not seen the video: Pravin Chavan
After Fadnavis’ allegations in the assembly, The Indian Express tried to contact advocate Pravin Chavan and Pune police commissioner Amitabh Gupta multiple times for their reaction. Both did not answer the calls.
Speaking to a TV channel, Pravin Chavan said on Tuesday night: “I have no links with the government nor any of my family members is in politics. I have not seen the video till now and the authenticity of these images can only be verified by the forensic department. There is a possibility that in the cases wherein I have been a prosecutor and the accused who have not been able to secure bail, they may feel that removing the lawyer out of the equation would help them.”
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday evening, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil said he was yet to go through the contents of recordings and that he would speak on the issue in the assembly on Wednesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Fadnavis submitted a pen drive to the assembly chair which he said contained video recordings of over 125 hours and claimed that the MVA leaders hatched a conspiracy to frame Mahajan in a case registered with the Pune police in January 2021.
In his speech in the assembly, which he made during a time allotted for discussion on law and order issued, the former CM also read out parts of transcripts of the videos conversations between Chavan, some police officials, including two from Pune of the assistant commissioner and deputy commissioner ranks, and some leaders of the MVA alliance.
The transcripts had names of senior police officials and political leaders who are not part of the conversations but were referred to. It also contained alleged discussion between some of the people, including Chavan, on planting evidence to frame Mahajan under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), stringent legislation that has provisions of longer detentions, mainly to control notorious organised gangs.
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