Mumbai, Oct 22 Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Thursday demanded an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into the alleged Rs 500 crore transaction mentioned in an audio clip released by Maratha activist Manoj Jarange.
Speaking to reporters here, Sapkal also demanded that gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, lodged in a jail in Gujarat, be brought to Maharashtra for interrogation in the wake of the attack on actor Tiger Shroff.
“The people whose names figure in the audio clip released by Jarange should be questioned. The ED should find out where the Rs 500 crore came from, who brought the money and to whom it was given. The names of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and MP Shrikant Shinde have also been mentioned in this connection. They should be arrested,” he said.
Jarange on Thursday released an audio clip which purportedly claimed that Rs 500 crore had been delivered to him through Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, and alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched to silence him and weaken his agitation for quota.
He made the audio clip public a day after Eknath Shinde dared him to prove his earlier allegations.
Sapkal, meanwhile, also targeted the BJP-led government over law and order following the firing on Tiger Shroff. Police have said that a Bishnoi gang member was behind the attack.
“If Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has the courage, he should bring Lawrence Bishnoi from Sabarmati jail to the ‘Anda cell’ in Arthur Road jail here and interrogate him,” the Congress leader said.
The BJP-led Mahayuti government had failed to control organised crime, Sapkal claimed.
The Bishnoi gang was issuing threats to public representatives and Bollywood personalities and was involved in murders, he said, referring to the killing of former state minister Baba Siddique.
Targeting Fadnavis, who heads the Home Department, he said Maharashtra should have a “full-time and capable” Home Minister.
Sapkal also accused the state government of failing to provide adequate relief to farmers ahead of Diwali despite declaring a drought. He demanded that the government deposit Rs 1 lakh per hectare into farmers’ bank accounts before the festival and announce a complete farm loan waiver.
He also sought fodder camps for livestock, drinking water arrangements, financial assistance for agricultural labourers, 12 free LPG cylinders for each household, restoration of the old employment guarantee scheme, a waiver of all educational fees, and free state transport bus passes for students.
(PTI News)
