Maharashtra’s DCM (Deputy Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis accused the previous MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) dispensation led by Uddhav Thackeray of hatching a conspiracy to get him arrested. He said that the former Mumbai Commissioner of Police (CP) Sanjay Pandey had been ordered to frame the DCM in some cases or slap some criminal charges on him.

The BJP leader said that Pandey had been given a ‘target’ to arrest but the CP failed as he hadn’t done anything wrong. “The Mahavikas Aghadi government had given a target to then Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey to put me in jail. The MVA government had given orders to frame me or slap some criminal charges (on me) anyhow. It is the truth and now you can ask any police official. They will also tell about it.”, said Fadnavis speaking at an event organized by ABP Majha.

 “Uddhav Thackeray completely stopped answering my phone calls. If he did not want to form an alliance (with BJP after the 2019 state polls), he should have told me so. At a function recently, I met ‘wahini’ (Uddhav’s wife Rashmi Thackeray) and told her to convey my regards to Uddhav Thackeray. This is the culture of Maharashtra and I cannot disregard it,” he said. The DCM added that he doesn’t hold any grudge against Uddhav Thackeray.

Sanjay Pandey is a 1986-batch retired IPS officer who was arrested after the fall of the MVA government in a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal phone tapping of NSE employees.