MUMBAI: Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharati on Monday constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a forensic examination of an audio tape released by Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil, which contains allegations involving Rs 500 crore pay-off and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his son, Shrikant Shinde.
The SIT will be headed by Shailesh Balkawade, Additional Commissioner of Police, South Zone, Mumbai. Vijaykant Sagar and Bajrang Bansode, both Additional Commissioners of Police, will be its members.
According to the commissioner's order, Jarange Patil released the audio clip to the media, in which several people are named and an amount of Rs 500 crore is mentioned. The SIT has been directed to conduct a detailed forensic examination and investigation in a fair and impartial manner.
The order authorises the SIT members to appoint other police officers at their level to assist with the investigation. The team must also keep the police commissioner informed of developments in the probe. However, the commissioner has not set a deadline for the SIT to submit its report.
“It shows the probe is not time-bound. So, the SIT probe can drag on for an indefinite period without submitting the final report. If people who are named in this audio clip establish the facts that they have spoken in the audio clip. And all these people who are named -- BJP spokesperson Sweeta Shalini, RSS functionary Atul Limaye, CM Fadnavis close aide Nidhi Kamdar, and right-wing BJP-affiliated YouTuber Sushil Kulkarni are close to CM Fadnavis,” said Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal.
“If uncomfortable information comes out in the SIT probe, then the SIT probe will go on and go without any conclusion,” he said, adding that the police commissioner should have set a deadline for the investigation.
A Shiv Sena delegation had earlier met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded an SIT and a fair and impartial investigation.
The audio clip released by Jarange Patil has stirred Maharashtra politics and widened tensions between the BJP and its alliance partner, Shiv Sena.
In the purported recording, BJP spokesperson Sweeta Shalini allegedly claims that the BJP gave Rs 500 crore to Eknath Shinde ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections. It also alleges that Rs 500 crore was given to Jarange Patil through Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde to pacify the activist and end the Maratha agitation.
Eknath Shinde and his son have denied receiving Rs 500 crore from the BJP, while Jarange Patil has also denied receiving the money. All have called for an investigation to establish whether the money was transferred, who received it and who was involved in the alleged transaction.
Shiv Sena has alleged that the BJP is conspiring to undermine its ally and defame Eknath Shinde and his son through the allegations.