Terror funding case probed by Pune Police is being closed beneath stress, alleges Fadnavis

By PTI

MUMBAI: A case associated to an inter-state gang concerned in narcotics commerce, intercourse trafficking and terror funding which the Pune police was probing is being closed beneath anyone’s stress, Leader of Opposition within the Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis alleged on Thursday.

Some members of this gang had been linked to Salim Merchant, an aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, the BJP chief alleged within the Assembly.

The case needs to be handed over to the National Investigation Agency or CBI because the gang’s community was unfold throughout eight states, he stated. Pune Police chanced on this case when probing one other matter in September 2020, Fadnavis stated.

The former Maharashtra chief minister additionally gave the names of some individuals who had been allegedly a 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accounts in different banks, prepare fake ids, deposit money in these accounts and on the same day, the money is withdrawn from other accounts in Jammu-Kashmir or Bengal,” Fadnavis stated.

“They know how the banking software works. Hence, the money is transferred before evening,” he added.

Pune Police had been performing swiftly and at one level that they had determined to arrest 100 folks, the BJP chief 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 stated.

Fadnavis additionally submitted a pen drive to Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, saying it incorporates a sting operation of Nasir Bagwan, brother of former Mumbai police officer Ishaq Bagwan.

Ishaq Bagwan had bought a chunk of land via a present deed from the son of Farid Mohammed Ali Welder who was named as an confederate 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 stated.

The chief Nasir Bagwan referred to was not from Baramati, however from Mumbai, the BJP chief added.

Fadnavis additionally stated the state authorities’s choice to not insist that minister Nawab Malik — arrested in an alleged cash laundering case — ought to resign was tarnishing its picture.

In his speech, Fadnavis additionally launched a fusillade in opposition to the Shiv Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), alleging “massive corruption” within the cash-rich civic physique.

“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 acquisition of kit and medicines like Remdesivir.

“And if anyone raises these issues, they are labelled as enemies of Maharashtra,” he stated Special public prosecutor Pravin Chavan, who resigned within the wake of the allegation of hatching a conspiracy to implicate BJP leaders, continues as lawyer in lots of circumstances, Fadnavis stated.

“You ordered CID probe in the matter, and he (Chavan) is an advocate in several other CID cases,” the BJP chief added.