By PTI
MUMBAI: A case related to an inter-state gang involved in narcotics trade, sex trafficking and terror funding which the Pune police was probing is being closed under somebody’s pressure, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis alleged on Thursday.
Some members of this gang were linked to Salim Merchant, an aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, the BJP leader alleged in the Assembly.
The case should be handed over to the National Investigation Agency or CBI as the gang’s network was spread across eight states, he said. Pune Police stumbled on this case when probing another matter in September 2020, Fadnavis said.
The former Maharashtra chief minister also gave the names of some people who were allegedly part of the gang.
“They have more than 300 members, and are operating in eight states and they are into narcotics, sex trafficking and terror funding. What do these people do? They find dormant accounts in different banks, prepare fake ids, deposit money in these accounts and on the same day, the money is withdrawn from other accounts in Jammu-Kashmir or Bengal,” Fadnavis said.
“They know how the banking software works. Hence, the money is transferred before evening,” he added.
Pune Police were acting swiftly and at one point they had decided to arrest 100 people, the BJP leader claimed. “I don’t know who exactly exerted pressure. The probe has stopped, and now a closure report is being prepared,” he alleged.
“I don’t understand under what kind of pressure it is being closed. Pune police were doing a good job and suddenly the work was stopped. Hence there is a need to look into this,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis also submitted a pen drive to Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, saying it contains a sting operation of Nasir Bagwan, brother of former Mumbai police officer Ishaq Bagwan.
Ishaq Bagwan had got a piece of land through a gift deed from the son of Farid Mohammed Ali Welder who was named as an accomplice of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Ibrahim Kaskar in a case, Fadnavis claimed.
“The reason for giving the pen drive is that a political leader played middleman in this (deal). This is Nasir Bagwan’s sting operation. He speaks about how a leader from Mumbai went to Baramati and played the middleman,” Fadnavis said.
The leader Nasir Bagwan referred to was not from Baramati, but from Mumbai, the BJP leader added.
Fadnavis also said the state government’s decision not to insist that minister Nawab Malik — arrested in an alleged money laundering case — should resign was tarnishing its image.
In his speech, Fadnavis also launched a fusillade against the Shiv Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), alleging “massive corruption” in the cash-rich civic body.
“Initially, Rs 130 crore were found in the possession of the chairman of the BMC’s standing committee. That amount has gone up to Rs 300 crore. People were dying due to COVID-19. But he purchased 38 properties in 24 months,” Fadnavis alleged.
He alleged corruption in Covid centre tenders and the purchase of equipment and drugs like Remdesivir.
“And if anyone raises these issues, they are labelled as enemies of Maharashtra,” he said Special public prosecutor Pravin Chavan, who resigned in the wake of the allegation of hatching a conspiracy to implicate BJP leaders, continues as lawyer in many cases, Fadnavis said.
“You ordered CID probe in the matter, and he (Chavan) is an advocate in several other CID cases,” the BJP leader added.
