Pune Police silent on Pooja Chavan case; Shinde said in July ‘Rathod given clean chit’

Fadnavis had even written to the state DGP alleging that the Pune Police was investigating the case only superficially. He had sent 12 audio clips to the DGP, most of which were believed to contain purported phone conversations between Sanjay and his aide Arun Rathod, and a 90-minute call between Sanjay and Pooja.

Soon after Pooja jumped off a building in Pune on February 7, last year, Sanjay, the three-time Sena MLA from Digras in Yavatmal, had resigned as the Maharashtra forest minister on February 28. The Pune Police lodged an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in the matter even as the Opposition demanded that an FIR be registered.

The Pune Police then sent the 12 audio clips to the forensic science laboratory, along with CCTV footage from outside a hospital – where she had an abortion a day before her death – to verify the video. Later, the Pune Police said that the voices of the two people heard in the recorded phone conversations were of Sanjay and Chavan.

Most of the purported conversations between Sanjay and Arun, which were leaked, were about a woman who had agreed to undergo “treatment”, but was apparently suicidal. In one of the leaked conversations, a male voice could be heard telling another that he was under enormous stress, and unless “she understands”, he might have no option “but to give my life”.

A second purported piece of evidence, too, was sent to the lab – CCTV footage from the premises of Yavatmal Medical College hospital, captured before dawn on February 6, approximately 24 hours before Pooja killed herself in Pune. The footage contains purported images of Pooja with Arun. Arun and another aide of Sanjay’s, Vilas Chavan, stayed with Pooja in the rented apartment in Heaven Park in Pune’s Mohammed Wadi, where she died.

Following Pooja’s death, the Yavatmal hospital had issued a statement saying one “Pooja Arun Rathod” had been admitted there at 4.34 am on February 6, and had undergone an abortion.

The Opposition had alleged at the time that this woman was none other than Pooja Chavan, who had jumped off the Pune building early the following day. Her name had been mentioned as “Pooja Arun Rathod” in the hospital records because she had been accompanied to the hospital by Arun, the Opposition had claimed.

Pune Police had detained and questioned Arun after Pooja’s suicide, and also examined his phone. Due to her popularity, Pooja was known to Pankaja Munde, the BJP leader from Beed. Following her death, Munde had tweeted demanding an investigation.

Later, Chitra Wagh moved the Bombay High Court seeking registration of an FIR against Sanjay, She also demanded that the probe be handed over to a SIT or the CBI. Following this, the HC asked then Maha Vikas Aghadi government why an FIR was not registered in the matter.

The Pune Police filed an affidavit in response on April 7, this year. Following this, there has been no update from the Pune Police’s side on the status of the case until July 9, when newly-elected Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that a clean chit had been given to Sanjay by the police in connection with the case.

Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta did not respond to calls or messages seeking his response on the case.