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Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar met on Monday. (File)
Mumbai:
Top Maharashtra ministers met at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s home this morning amid discomfiture over the handling of the Mukesh Ambani security scare case, in which a Mumbai police officer is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and other ministers including Eknath Shinde, Balasaheb Thorat, Anil Parab and Jayant Patil were part of the meeting. Apart from the Covid surge in Maharashtra, the discussions focused on tackling the subject of Sachin Waze, the police officer arrested for his suspected role in the case involving an explosives-laden car abandoned near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s multistorey home Antilia in Mumbai. The opposition has accused the state government of shielding the Assistant Inspector, who was once in Mr Thackeray’s Shiv Sena.
“Whoever is found guilty in the investigations will be punished, no one will be spared. But no one will be punished before there is established evidence against them,” Ajit Pawar said after the meeting. He also emphatically denied that the state government was protecting the police officer because of his political connections. “The coalition is united,” Mr Pawar said.
Asked about speculation that Mumbai Police chief Parambir Singh may be shunted out, the Deputy Chief Minister said: “Until there is proof of anyone’s guilt, they will continue working.”
Yesterday, Mr Pawar’s uncle and veteran NCP leader Sharad Pawar met with the Chief Minister amid reports of tension between the allies over the case. The two leaders, say sources, discussed measures to contain the political fallout of the arrest of Sachin Waze.
With the investigation now taken over by national anti-terror agency NIA, it has become a bigger embarrassment for the Maharashtra government with daily revelations emerging on Sachin Waze.
In the latest twist to the case, the NIA has learnt that Mr Waze allegedly seized CCTV footage at his own apartment complex and removed it.
Sources say Chief Minister Thackeray met two senior Mumbai police officers — Milind Bharambe and Vishwas Nangre Patil – to discuss the probe details.
Maharashtra’s opposition BJP has been targeting the Uddhav Thackeray government over Sachin Waze, who was suspended after his arrest last week.
The case involves a Scorpio SUV carrying gelatin sticks found abandoned on Mumbai’s Carmichael Road, near Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia, on February 25. It carried a threat letter to Mukesh and Nita Ambani. Sachin Vaze was the first investigating officer in the case. The vehicle was traced to one Mansukh Hiran, a Thane-based auto parts dealer, who had reported it stolen on February 17.
Hiran was found dead in a creek near Mumbai on March 5. His wife alleged that Mr Vaze had borrowed the same vehicle for four months till he returned it on February 5. She also accused the cop of a role in her husband’s death, following which the NIA took over the case earlier being probed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
The BJP has accused the Chief Minister of trying to protect Mr Vaze because he was a Sena member during a break in his career, when he was suspended over a murder case.
BJP leader and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alleged on Sunday that the state government encouraged Mr Vaze to think he could get away with anything and so he planned and executed the scare near Antilia.
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