CBI Registers FIR Against Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for Allegedly Framing BJP Leaders
Reported by Tikam Shekhawat
Pune/New Delhi, 6th September 2024: After a two-year preliminary investigation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and four others. They are accused of conspiring to falsely implicate Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Girish Mahajan and other BJP legislators in fabricated cases.
The investigation began in 2022 after BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis handed over a pen drive to the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker. The pen drive reportedly contained videos showing conversations about planting evidence to frame BJP leaders, including Mahajan, in false cases. After this incidence, apart from Mahajan, BJP MLAs Mangesh Chavan, Sanjay Kute, and Jaykumar Rawal also lodged similar complaints with the CBI.
The FIR named Deshmukh, special public prosecutor Pravin Chavan, private individual Vijay Bhaskarrao Patil, and two police officers—Pournima Gaikwad, (the then) Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 3, Pune, and Sushma Chavan, (the then) Assistant Commissioner of Police.
The CBI inquiry revealed that Deshmukh, in collaboration with Chavan and Patil, orchestrated the filing of a zero FIR in 2020 at Nimbhora Police Station in Jalgaon. This FIR was intended to implicate Mahajan and others in an alleged incident from 2018, linked to a larger conspiracy to seize control of Patil’s educational institute, the Jalgaon Zilla Maratha Vidya Prasarak Sahakari Samaj.
The zero FIR was later transferred to Kothrud Police Station in Pune, where false witness statements were allegedly fabricated. The accused were charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, falsifying documents, and filing false charges.
Deshmukh has denied the allegations, calling the case politically motivated and accusing Fadnavis of using “dirty politics” to target him. He took to social media platform X to express his confidence that the people of Maharashtra would see through the conspiracy ahead of the upcoming elections.
