'Waiting for my arrest', NCP (SP)'s Anil Deshmukh dares Devendra Fadnavis

Nagpur (Maharashtra) : The former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) home minister Anil Deshmukh accused Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of trying to frame and raid him with the help of the CBI, here on Tuesday.

The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader claimed that four years ago when he was the state MVA home minister, the CBI had filed a case against him on allegations that he had pressured a Jalgaon police officer to act vis-a-vis BJP leader Girish Mahajan.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Deshmukh contended that the Deputy CM was now trying to get him raided and arrested with the help of the Centre, and challenged: “Devendra Fadnavis, I am waiting for my arrest…”

The charge against Deshmukh was that he allegedly put pressure on the then Jalgaon Superintendent of Police to implicate BJP’s Mahajan in a false case, but the senior officer refused to oblige.

Later, Mahajan alleged that Deshmukh was trying to file a false case to arrest him under MCOCA during the MVA rule, and after he (Mahajan) learnt of it, he sought a reply from the then home minister.

After a detailed probe into the whole matter, the CBI filed a complaint against Deshmukh last week (September 4), which he alleged was done under pressure from Fadnavis. However, the latter has stoutly denied the charge.

It may be recalled that on November 2, 2021, Deshmukh had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He spent around 13 months in jail before being released on December 28, 2022.

Deshmukh’s long incarceration came after allegations of extortion, corruption and money laundering and other things, in a letter-bomb penned by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that sparked a political furore.