Nagpur: Former Maharashtra home minister and senior NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh on Sunday claimed that dismissed police
officer Sachin Waze was levelling allegations against him at the behest of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who wants to exact political revenge.
Deshmukh, who resigned as home minister in 2021 after ex-Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused him of setting a target to collect Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants, dared Fadnavis to make Justice Chandiwal Commission report public, claiming he had been given a clean chit.
Reacting to Deshmukh’s allegations, Fadnavis said the NCP (SP) politician is saying “meaningless imaginary things”.
The Deputy CM said the Chandiwal Commission report was submitted when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power but no action was taken. “Retired Justice Chandiwal conducted an inquiry for 11 months on the allegations against me by former Mumbai commissioner Param Bir Singh and dismissed police officer Sachin Waze, who had clearly stated that neither I nor my PA had asked him for money or given him any,” Deshmukh told reporters, a day after Waze reiterated bribery allegations against him. Deshmukh accused Fadnavis of taking “political vengeance” by levelling allegations against him using Waze and not making the Chandiwal panel report public. Notably, Deshmukh recently accused Fadnavis of trying to exert pressure as the then opposition leader when he (Deshmukh) was home minister in the erstwhile MVA government, to frame key politicians including the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, and a few ministers.