Anil Deshmukh reacts to Sachin Waze’s bribery allegation, calls it ‘new move’ by Devendra Fadnavis

Rejecting allegations levelled by dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday termed it a "new move" by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Sachin Waze, who is an accused in ₹100 crore extortion case as well as 2021 Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiren murder case, once again reiterated his allegation of bribery against Deshmukh.

Claiming that the money used to go through his (Anil Deshmukh) PA, Waze has claimed that CBI has the proof and he has also written a letter to Devendra Fadnavis.

Stating that he was ready for Narco test, Waze claimed that in the letter he has written, he has given the name of Jayant Patil as well.

Reacting to allegations, Deshmukh, who is also senior NCP (SP) leader, said, “What Sachin Waze spoke is a new move by Devendra Fadnavis, as a few days back, I had levelled allegations against Fadnavis about how he had three years back given a proposal to me to implicate Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya Thackeray.”

What Deshmukh said?

— Fadnavis may not be knowing that the Bombay High Court spoke about Sachin Waze that he has a criminal background. He was arrested in two murder cases and is not a person who can be trusted.

— Deshmukh accused Fadnavis of using a person with criminal background to implicate him.

— Deshmukh recently claimed that Fadnavis as the opposition leader had tried to pressure him to sign affidavits against the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray.

Shiv Sena UBT reacts

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that an accused (in 2021 Antilia bomb scare) is speaking like a BJP worker.

"This way they have brought down the level of Maharashtra politics...Anil Deshmukh was a former Minister, he has the right to speak but to put pressure on him, you(BJP) have to take the help of a terrorist. This is your failure...they have lost the election mentally," said Raut.

Fadnavis says:

— I saw them (Sachin Waze's allegations) only in the media. You are also showing that he has written a letter to me. I have not seen anything about that yet because I have been in Nagpur for the last two days.

— I will react after seeing if any such letter has come or not. But I want to tell you that whatever is coming out, we will do a proper investigation on it.

Sachin Waze is currently lodged in Taloja central jail in Navi Mumbai. Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh had alleged that Deshmukh, during his tenure as home minister, asked police officers to collect ₹100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in the city. In the wake of the allegations, Deshmukh had stepped down as the home minister in 2021.