Mumbai, March 25: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday informed the state Assembly that the associates of an accused woman, who tried to extort money from Rural Development Minister Jaykumar Gore, were in direct contact with NCP SP leaders Supriya Sule and Rohit Pawar.

The Chief Minister said that the woman has already been arrested by laying a trap, and the police are currently investigating the case.

In his reply to a debate on the motion moved by opposition parties, the Chief Minister said that calls made between the associates of the accused woman with Supriya Sule and Rohit Pawar have been recorded.

“If politics is being done with the intention of removing someone from life, it is not right. The case regarding Gore was registered in 2016, it ended in 2019. He was not even in the ruling party at that time. But then suddenly, this case was revived,” said the Chief Minister.

“I appreciate his (minister’s) courage. A person tries to settle things in such a situation, but he complained after being demanded a bribe from an accused woman. The entire conversation was recorded. There are many clips of the conversation. After the Police Department was convinced, they set a trap. The accused woman was caught while actually taking the cash. Therefore, it was a form of blackmail,” said the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister hinted at a nexus that was working in this case. “It was a kind of nexus. Three accused in this case have been arrested. One is the woman herself. The second is journalist Tushar Kharat, while the third is a person named Anil Subhedar. All of them had hatched this conspiracy together. All the evidence of this has been found. Their WhatsApp conversations have been found. About 150 of their phones have been found. How they hatched the conspiracy has come to light. But the unfortunate thing is that the Nationalist Congress Party was directly in touch with all of them,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that Prabhakar Deshmukh has spoken to these three accused 100 times directly, adding that the videos have been sent to them.

“They have also responded. But what I feel worse is that Supriya Sule and Rohit Pawar have made calls to Tushar Kharat, who runs a YouTube channel. The videos of Jayakumar Gore have been sent to Sule and Pawar by the accused. It will be investigated. But why is this happening? We are not political enemies, we are political opponents. If a conspiracy is being hatched to take someone’s life in this way, then this is wrong,” he said.

Mumbai, March 25: An FIR has been filed against Shiv Sena(UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, Rhea Chakraborty, Dino Morea, Suraj Pancholi and others in Disha Salian’s death case, her father’s advocate said on Tuesday.

Satish Salian’s advocate Nilesh Ojha filed a fresh FIR in her death case. Ojha said that a written complaint has been filed with the police commissioner. In the FIR, the names of Aaditya Thackeray, Dino Morea and Suraj Pancholi have been mentioned.

According to Ojha, a written complaint to the police commissioner’s office was accepted by the joint commissioner of police (crime). The complaint is incorporated in the FIR. He further stated, “Aaditya Thackeray, Dino Morea, Suraj Pancholi and his bodyguard, Parambir Singh, Sachin Vaze and Rhea Chakraborty are all accused in the FIR.”

He claimed that Parambir Singh was the main mastermind for the coverup in the case. Ojha said, “Parambir Singh held a press conference and fabricated lies to save Aaditya Thackeray. NCB’s probe proves that Aaditya Thackeray was involved in a drug business and it has been also mentioned in the FIR.”

Ojha said that former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his associates hatched a conspiracy to suppress this serious crime. Some senior police officers were also involved in the conspiracy as they misused police and government machinery, created false police records, suppressed witnesses and tried to hide criminal evidence.

“It is my sincere request that all these acts should be immediately prosecuted under sections 376(D), 302, 409, 120(B), 107, 109, 166, 167 and other applicable sections of the IPC and strict action be taken against the accused,” said Ojha.

The move comes after Satish Salian recently filed a petition in the high court seeking a CBI probe into his daughter’s death. He had claimed that Disha was raped and murdered and he has named Aaditya Thackeray in the petition.

Disha Salian, who was a former manager of the late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, died on June 8, 2020, after allegedly falling from the 14th floor of a highrise building in Mumbai. At the time, the Mumbai Police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR). Six days later, Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Bandra residence. While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the actor’s death probe, an SIT (Special Investigation Team) was constituted by the Maharashtra government in 2023 to investigate Disha’s death.

Mumbai: Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s refusal to apologise for his joke about Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has sparked strong reactions from state government ministers. The controversy erupted after Kamra performed a stand-up act in Mumbai where he took a dig at Shinde’s political career, referring to him as a ‘gaddar‘ (traitor) in a parody of a popular Hindi song from Dil To Pagal Hai. His jokes also touched upon the recent political shifts in Maharashtra, including the Shiv Sena and NCP splits.

Gulab Patil’s Threat To Kunal Kamra

The backlash from the ruling coalition was swift. Shiv Sena leader Gulab Patil, speaking to reporters, warned Kamra of consequences if he did not apologise. “Shiv Sena won’t leave him… We won’t tolerate this insult. If he doesn’t apologise, kabhi toh bahar aayega na, kaha chupega? (he will come out, where will he hide?) The Shiv Sena will show its real form,” he said.

Minister of State for Home Yogesh Ramdas Kadam also condemned Kamra’s act, stating that punishment would follow. “He will be punished. If you are going to insult the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister, Hindu Gods and Goddesses, it is not tolerable. You cannot behave like this in Maharashtra or India… We enjoy comedy, but this is not the kind of comedy that will be tolerated,” Kadam told the media.

Kunal Kamra Refuses To Apologise

Despite these warnings, Kamra remained defiant. On Monday, he posted a statement on his official social media account, making it clear that he would not apologise for his act. Meanwhile, the Khar police issued a summons asking him to appear before the investigating officer at 11 am today. However, Mumbai police confirmed that Kamra is currently not in the city.

The controversy also led to legal action. The MIDC police registered an FIR against Kamra for his remarks and the case was later transferred to Khar police for further investigation.