A day after claiming that he would “drop a hydrogen bomb” by revealing the “relationship between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis and the underworld”, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on Wednesday levelled a series of serious allegations against the BJP leader, including that of protecting an accused in a fake currency racket, and enabling access for Riyaaz Bhati, an alleged aide of Dawood Ibrahim, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr. Malik said: “On October 8, 2017 the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized fake currency notes worth ₹14.56 crore from the Bandra Kurla Complex [in Mumbai city]. Devendra Fadnavis swept the case undercover and the amount was later shown as only ₹8.8 lakh. Coincidentally, Sameer Dawood Wankhede, who is the officer at the Narcotics Control Bureau at present, was posted as the DRI’s Joint Director.”
Mr. Fadnavis was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the time and also handled the Home Department.
The NCP leader further stated that one of the arrested in the case, Imran Sheikh, is a brother of Haji Arafat Sheikh. Mr. Sheikh joined the BJP and was made the Chairman of the State Minority Commission. “Pakistan sends fake currency to India to destroy our economy. We demand to know why this case was not given to the NIA,” Mr. Malik said.
In another sensational allegation, Mr. Malik said of Mr. Bhati, who was arrested in a bogus passport case but let go in two days: “This Riyaz Bhati was taking photographs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter’s visit. How did he reach the PM? Was there no scanning and background check? Was he taken there by someone’s influence? Devendra- ji must answer.”
Accusing Mr. Fadnavis of appointing people with “criminal backgrounds” in government positions, Mr. Malik gave the example of Nagpur’s wanted criminal Munna Yadav, who was made the Chairman of the Maharashtra Construction Workers Welfare Board.
According to Mr. Malik, another accused, Haider Alam, who is “known to illegally bring citizens of Bangladesh to India” and has a case registered against him at the Malad Police Station, was made president of the Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation.
Mr. Fadnavis, who on Tuesday had accused “an underworld connection of Mr. Malik”, did not react to the new allegations by the latter but tweeted a quote by George Bernard Shaw: “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a Pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”
BJP MLA Ashish Shelar in a press conference accepted that Mr. Yadav, Mr. Sheikh and Mr. Haider are BJP workers, but said that Mr. Sheikh and Mr. Haider had no cases against them while the cases against Mr. Yadav pertained to “the political agitation”.
“Bhati has photographs with MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) leaders as well. Photos with leaders mean nothing,” Mr. Shelar said.
