Mumbai: The 2021 Antilia bomb scare is gathering heat for the three weeks in poll-bound Maharashtra, with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Mahayuti hurling graft allegations against each other over the three-year-old controversy.
Former home minister Anil Deshmukh alleged that an intermediary was sent to him in 2021 on the behest of then leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis for signing “false affidavits” implicating then CM Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya Thackeray, Ajit Pawar, and Shiv Sena UBT leader Anil Parab, in order to avoid jail term.
Fadnavis has denied all these allegations, calling them “baseless”.
Former Mumbai top cop Parambir Singh and dismissed police officer Sachin Waze, the two central characters of this episode, have pointed fingers at Deshmukh, saying the NCP (SP) leader was taking bribes via his personal assistant and allegations against them were false.
Parambir Singh, the then Mumbai Police commissioner, was suspended in the aftermath of this controversy. Waze, an assistant police inspector, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the recovery of explosives from a car found outside businessman Mukesh Ambani’s home on 25 February.
Leaders from the BJP have claimed that Deshmukh is doing all of this to “tarnish the image of Fadnavis ahead of the elections”, whereas the Aghadi leaders have demanded inquiry into Deshmukh’s allegations.
Deshmukh spent more than a year in jail after Parabir Singh accused him of taking a bribe of Rs 100 crore and asking the police to ‘collect money’ from hotel and bar owners in the city. But, the Bombay High court released him on bail and in its order had said that the allegations were based on hearsay.
Political analyst Abhay Deshpande believes that going into the assembly elections, this is a strategy of the Opposition to corner and target the BJP and Fadnavis, who is the state-level face of the party.
“After the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is on a backfoot. And from all corners, the Opposition is targeting the party and its strongest face. In fact because of the quota issue as well, Manoj Jarange Patil is also blaming Fadnavis for everything. So, overall he is the villain right now because he is the central figure — be it seat sharing, or otherwise in the BJP. So it will hurt BJP,” he explains.
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The story so far
The ongoing series of allegations-counter allegations began after rationalist Shyam Manav held an explosive press conference on 20 July, alleging that Deshmukh was approached to level charges against then CM Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya Thackeray, Ajit Pawar, and Anil Parab, failing which the NCP (SP) leader was threatened to face the heat of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Deshmukh then came out saying that the intermediary carried four affidavits, implicating the four leaders in allegedly false cases of graft and even serious charges such as rape and murder against Aaditya Thackeray.
Post this statement Fadnavis advised Deshmukh that he should know that his own leaders have “provided me with multiple pieces of audio-visual evidence of his comments about then CM Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, or Sachin Waze.”
“If false accusations are levelled against me, I will have no choice but to make this evidence public,” the deputy chief minister said.
Incidentally, Desmukh himself was in jail for over a year in connection with the allegations of corruption brought against him by Parambir Singh. The NCP (SP) leader remains out on bail from December 2022.
The former MVA home mnister challenged Fadnavis to release the alleged clips and showed a pen drive saying that it contains evidence about the allegations he made against Fadnavis. “If I am challenged, I will reveal the video evidence I have. I don’t speak without proof.”
BJP leaders rallied around Fadnavis and maintained that these allegations were done only to “tarnish the image of Fadnavis” ahead of the elections.
Later on, Deshmukh named Samit Kadam as the ‘middleman’ who allegedly met him on behalf of Fadnavis, a charge denied by the youth wing president of the Jansurajya Shakti Party.
The NCP (SP) sought a clarification from the government for not disclosing the findings of the Justice Chandiwal Commission, which probed allegations of extortion raised by Parambir Singh against Deshmukh.
Another front opened up a week later when Uddhav broke his silence at a gathering of Shiv Sena (UBT) workers in Pune. “Anil Deshmukh recently spoke about how Fadnavis planned to put me and Aaditya behind bars. After tolerating everything, I now stand with determination. Either you will be there, or I will,” he said.
To this, Fadnavis came out strongly, saying that he would not spare anyone who messed with him. On Tuesday, he told the media in Nagpur that Deshmukh was lying and that everyone should be cautious of his lies.
Entry of former cops
On 3 August, Waze dropped a bombshell saying that Deshmukh accepted bribes via his personal assistant. But Deshmukh dismissed Waze’s claims saying that an accused cannot be trusted and that this was “Fadnavis’ new move”.
In a letter earlier written on 30 July to a court, he claimed that during Deshmukh’s tenure, the level of work of the home ministry fell to the lowest level. “I am also a victim. Under pressure from Deshmukh, I was forced to do many illegal works that should not have been done by an officer like me. In many cases, Deshmukh used to say ‘this work has come from Patil Saheb’ and get the work done. I did not dare to ask who exactly was meant by ‘Pawar Saheb’,” he wrote.
Waze’s letter also referred to the Chandiwal Commission, which was formed by the MVA government, to probe the corruption allegations against Deshmukh.
An accused in the Antilia bomb scare and Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran’s murder, he is currently lodged in Taloja central jail in Navi Mumbai following his arrest in March 2021.
Deshmukh challenged the Mahayuti government to release the committee’s report which he claimed gave him a clean chit. “Retired Justice Chandiwal conducted an inquiry for 11 months into the allegations of Parambir Singh and Sachin Waze, who had clearly stated that neither I nor my PA had asked him for money or given him any,” he said Sunday.
Singh did not appear before the panel despite six summons, he said, alleging that the former Mumbai commissioner was the mastermind behind the Antilia bomb scare and murder of Mansukh Hiren.
While the NIA took over during March 2021, Singh was supposed to get arrested three years back but to avoid it, he “surrendered himself to Fadnavis and the central government,” Deshmukh said in a press conference on Monday.
Parambir then rebutted the allegations as “bogus” and repeated his charges that the NCP (SP) used to go for extortion.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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