The Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra is facing the heat from the Opposition over the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare case, leading to the Mumbai Police having to see a change of guard with Param Bir Singh’s transfer.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Opposition has been upping the ante against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state over accused former police officer Sachin Vaze’s alleged involvement in planting the explosives-laden SUV outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence and his alleged links with the Shiv Sena.
With speculations on Anil Deshmukh’s likely removal from the post of the Maharashtra Home Minister amid rising political pressure, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Opposition has made several big allegations against the Sena.
Claim 1
Training guns at Thackeray, Fadnavis has claimed that Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze’s activities were backed by their ‘political bosses,’ whose names need to be revealed.
Claim 2
Fadnavis alleged that while being in the government in alliance with the BJP before 2019, Thackeray had demanded for Vaze to be reinstated but it was never done since the advocate general had suggested that an officer removed by the court cannot be reinstated by the government.
Claim 3
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has alleged that there are several construction companies in Vaze’s name and that many of his partners are from the Shiv Sena.
Claim 4
Referring to Vaze, Fadnavis has alleged that the Shiv Sena had reinstated an “extortion agent” into the police force. BJP MP Ram Kadam claimed that the Sena roped in Vaze to run an extortion racket ahead of the 2022 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. Kadam alleged that the racket was meant to blackmail corporates into funding the elections for the Sena.
Sena Slams BJP
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena on 19 March in its editorial Saamana strongly came out in defence of former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Attacking the BJP for allegedly politicising deaths and destroying the morale of the Mumbai Police in a bid to return to power in the state, the Sena questioned the move to transfer the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a hurry and the central agency’s success in cases like the Uri, Pathankot, and Pulwama terror attacks.
“The questions raised by the Opposition are valid, but while the probe was being conducted by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) that had already registered a case of murder (of SUV owner Mansukh Hiren), the case was taken over by the NIA in a hurry. The only motive behind the move was to make sure the Maharashtra government is defamed in some way or the other,” the party alleged.
“Param Bir Singh opened the case of the TRP scam (involving journalist Arnab Goswami). A specific lobby in Delhi has been furious with him ever since. They then discovered the 20 gelatin sticks. The sticks did not explode, but they shook the Mumbai Police. The new chief, Hemant Nagrale, will have to be courageous and cautious,” the party said.
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