Tearing into the former Chief Minister and current leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis for his alleged underworld links, Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on Wednesday accused him of allegedly “compromising” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security by helping a history-sheeter linked to Karachi-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim get access to a VVIP event and “hushing up” a Rs 14.65 crore post-demonetisation fake currency case.
A day after having threatened to drop “hydrogen bomb” on the former Chief Minister for his alleged underworld links, Malik also alleged that Fadnavis appointed the brother of a fake note scam accused as the chairman of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, stalled a probe against another accused involved in bringing Bangladeshis illegally into Mumbai, and appointed the same accused — with Bangladeshi woman as his second wife — as the chairman of Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation Ltd.
Malik’s sensational charges against the former Chief Minister made at a news conference are direct fallout of his ongoing campaign against zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede. Malik’s charges were in response to allegation by Fadnavis on Tuesday that Malik and his family had purchased a huge plot of land at “a throw-away price” from two henchmen of Dawood.
The NCP leader charged that Fadnavis was trying to “divert the issue” from his ongoing campaign against Wankhede, “a man who is framing innocent people in fake drug case” and allegedly extorting money from them.
Making a slew of allegations linking Fadnavis to the underworld, Malik alleged that the senior BJP leader “enjoyed” proximity to Riyaz Bhatti (57), a builder from Versova in north-west Mumbai, considered Dawood’s henchman, and was seen “rubbing shoulders with” the former Chief Minister at the party events, and “ present even at his (Fadnavis’) dinner table”.
“It is the same Bhatti who was arrested in a fake passport case in 2015 and again in 2020. Shockingly enough, he (Bhatti) was given entry to the VIP enclosure at a function attended by Modi. How could such a man who is so close to Dawood and other underworld people, gain access to the VIP event and even manage to get himself photographed with the Prime Minister. Now you would know who had made this happen,” Malik said.
Elaborating on Bhatti, the Maharashtra Minister said Bhatti was arrested in October 2015 and February 2020 in fake passport cases. “His name has cropped in several land-grab cases. He has usurped several plots of lands with the help of Mafiosi Chhota Shakeel and has a Look Out Circular issued against him, but is currently absconding. This is the man who is close to Fadnavis,” Malik said.
In his second charge against the senior BJP leader, Malik said Fadnavis worked against the objectives of Modi’s demonetisation move to rid the country of fake currency notes. “After the demonetisation, fake currency notes were seized in many states, while no case was registered for almost one year in Maharashtra where Fadhavis was the chief minister. On October 8, 2017, a huge cache of fake notes with a face value of Rs 14.65 crore was seized by Bandra Kurla Police, people were nabbed from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and also others from Pune like Imran Alam Shaikh and Riyaz Sheikh,” the NCP leader said.
“Later on, when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) began to investigate the case, Fadnavis virtually hushed up the case by showing the face value of seized fake currency as Rs 8.80 lakh. Coincidentally, the DRI officer investigating the case was the same IORS officer Sameer Wankhede,” Malik alleged, adding that the fake currency notes case had “direct connection” with Pakistan.
“The fake notes scam case did not end there. Imran Alam Shaikh, one of the accused in the fake currency seizure case was released on bail and no investigations were conducted. A few months later, Fadnavis rewarded a BJP leader Haji Arafat Shaikh, the elder brother of one of the accused in the fake notes case Imran Alam Shaikh by appointing him the Chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission,” Malik said.
Mailk also alleged that Fadnavis had also stalled the investigations in a case involving a BJP leader named Hyder Azam - who has been allegedly involved in bringing Bangladeshis to Mumbai “Incidentally, Hyder Azam’s second wife is from Bangladesh,” the NCP leader said.
“The Malad Police and later the West Bengal Police were checking out on the antecedents of Azam’s second wife, a Bangladeshi. But, the case was put under the carpet after a call from the Chief Minister’s Office to the Malad police station. In another coincidence, the same Hyder Azam was made Chairman of the Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation Ltd.,” Malik said.
Similarly, Fadnavis appointed another close aide from Nagpur Munna Yadav who is a dreaded criminal engaged in terrorising people, as the chairman of the State construction Workers’ Board.
Meanwhile, the Nagpur-based Munna Yadav dismissed Malik’s charge and said his police record --- barring some political cases - was “clean”. Yadav threatened to file a Rs 1 crore defamation suit against the NCP leader for making false allegations.
The NCP also demanded to know from Fadnavis whether or not builders or landowners were forced to sell their lands and collect extortion money after they were threatened with calls from the mafia abroad.
In a related development, BJP leader Ashish Shelar ridiculed Malik for his claim of dropping a “hydrogen bomb”. “Yesterday Malik threatened to drop a hydrogen bomb on Fadnavis. What we got to see today was that he lit up some sparklers. Yes, Munna Yadav, Haji Arafat and Haider Azam are BJP workers. However, there is not a single case against Arafat and Azam. They were appointed during Fadnavis’ tenure as the Chief Minister as the heads of various boards only after checking their antecedents,” Shelar said.
