This is an archive article published on February 27, 2021
Pooja Chavan death case: Sanjay Rathod will resign, says Shiv Sena
The BJP has launched a state-wide agitation against Rathod over his alleged link to the death of a woman, Pooja Chavan, in Pune.
Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut the Chief Minister was well aware of the situation and was closely monitoring it.
Police personnel detain BJP Mahila Morcha members at Sion-Panvel Highway, during a protest against Shiv Sena Minister Sanjay Rathod over his alleged involvement in Pooja Chavan suicide case, in Navi Mumbai, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. (PTI Photo)
Maharashtra Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod has been ordered by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to tender his resignation. “I am sure the minister will soon resign. It might happen any moment, maybe later this evening or tomorrow,” Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express on Saturday.
The BJP has launched a state-wide agitation against Rathod over his alleged link to the death of a woman, Pooja Chavan, in Pune.
Raut said the Chief Minister was well aware of the situation and was closely monitoring it. “The Chief Minister has not shut his eyes to what is happening…He has been closely monitoring the situation. The Chief Minister is a ‘satyavadi’ and will take the appropriate decision,” said Raut.
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Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, who is also a minister, said, “The Maha Vikas Aghadi government will not support any wrongdoing. If something is wrong, it is wrong, the government will take appropriate action in the matter.”
The Maharashtra BJP has been demanding Rathod’s ouster from the State Cabinet since he was linked to the suicide of Pooja Chavan. Senior BJP leader Chitra Wagh, who has been spearheading the agitation, said she strongly believed that Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar will ensure Rathod’s exit from the ministry. “Rathod has no right to remain in the ministry…there is concrete proof about his involvement in Pooja Chavan’s suicide. The police should take immediate action against him,” she said.
Rathod has denied his involvement in the suicide case.
Pooja Chavan, an aspiring model and resident of Parli Vaijanath in Beed district, died after falling from the balcony of an apartment in Pune’s Hadapsar area on February 8. A TikTok star, she, like Rathod, was from the Banjara community and active in community work. She was seen in a few political campaigns. Soon after her death, several photos and audio clips surfaced purportedly linking her to Rathod.
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After her death, Rathod had made no public appearances for two weeks and was not seen in his office in Mantralaya.
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The Pune City Police has registered an accidental death case as per procedure at the Wanawadi police station and is treating it as a case of suicide. Chavan’s family has not filed any complaint with the police.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More