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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

SIT flooded with calls, complaints being verified

Mumbai: Sharpening knives, several women political and social leaders called on the Nashik Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik and Special Investigation Team (SIT) chief Tejaswi Satpute, seeking action against several bigwigs allegedly linked with the Ashokkumar Eknath Kharat scandal that has scalded Maharashtra politics. A delegation led by Shiv Sena (UBT) Deputy Leader Sushama Andhare, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rupali Patil-Thombare, Sangeeta Tiwari of Bitiya Foundation,...

SIT flooded with calls, complaints being verified

Mumbai: Sharpening knives, several women political and social leaders called on the Nashik Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik and Special Investigation Team (SIT) chief Tejaswi Satpute, seeking action against several bigwigs allegedly linked with the Ashokkumar Eknath Kharat scandal that has scalded Maharashtra politics. A delegation led by Shiv Sena (UBT) Deputy Leader Sushama Andhare, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rupali Patil-Thombare, Sangeeta Tiwari of Bitiya Foundation, Swati Patil, Saroj Ahire and Prerana Balkawade met the two top cops in Nashik. “We have urged them to include the names of ruling ally Shiv Sena’s ex-minister Deepak V. Kesarkar and NCP State Women’s Wing President Rupali Nilesh Chakankar as co-accused in the case and initiate investigations against them. Check their CDR’s financial dealings and their role in promoting the fake Godman,” Andhare told ‘The Perfect Voice’. Karnik said that since the FIR’s have already been registered and the entire case has been transferred to the SIT, he would forward their plea to the SIT, which would be in a position to address the women leaders’ concerns. Thereafter, the ladies went to met Satpute and held detailed talks with her. “We discussed the case status, shared some additional inputs we have collected, names of certain officers or prominent persons plus certain potential victims. We strongly requested her to bring both Kesarkar and Chakankar - who quit last week as Chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Women - under the probe radar to ascertain their exact role in this sordid affair,” added Andhare. SIT Works The Special Investigation Team (SIT) conducting a probe against rape accused and self-styled godman Ashok Kharat has received more than 50 calls in the last five days providing information or reporting crimes allegedly committed by him, officials said on Friday. The Maharashtra government-appointed SIT earlier published two mobile phone numbers for citizens to share information regarding Kharat or report any offence committed by him, they said. The police have so far registered eight FIRs against Nashik-based Kharat after receiving multiple complaints involving allegations of sexual assault, extortion, and circulation of objectionable material. Kharat, who heads a temple trust at Sinnar in Nashik district and had several political leaders visit him over the years, was arrested on March 18 after a 35-year-old woman accused him of repeated rape over a period of three years. Following his arrest, multiple rape complaints were filed against him. A senior official said that since the launch of the two dedicated mobile numbers, the probe team received an average of 15 to 20 phone calls daily. Of the calls received in the last five days, more than 50 were about complaints against Kharat, he said, adding that the team is verifying the complaints. The SIT has assured that to keep the identities of those providing information or reporting a crime strictly confidential, he said. The SIT visited Kharat’s office in Nashik on Friday, accompanied by the forensic science team. A team of police officials recovered several documents and files, a diary and papers from the office, the official said. The Nashik district administration has, meanwhile, suspended the former Merchant Navy officer’s arms licence, citing that with multiple cases against him, he might use weapons to threaten and intimidate victims. Nashik collector Ayush Prasad on Tuesday issued an order suspending Kharat’s arms licence, another official said. Kharat, a resident of Mirgaon in Sinnar, obtained a revolver licence on October 15, 2012, renewed it on January 1, 2024, with validity till December 2028, he said. After a case was registered against Kharat at the Sarkarwada police station, the police recovered a weapon and bullets from him. The licence was suspended under section 17(3) of the Arms Act. Moral turpitude is a valid ground for suspension of the licence, the order stated. - With PTI

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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