Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale at Parliament, during the second part of Budget Session, in New Delhi.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Friday targeted the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVH) government in Maharashtra, demanding President's rule should be implemented in the state over the worsening law & order situation. His comments have come in wake of SUV (with gelatin stick inside it) that was found near Mukesh Ambani's House Antilia in Mumbai and its following developments including the death of Mansukh Hiren and role of Sachin Vaze.
"Law & order is worsening in Maharashtra. A criminal officer like Sachin Waze was given protection by the state government. I demand that President's rule be implemented in Maharashtra. I will also write to Home Minister Amit Shah regarding this," Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said.
Even as National Investigation Agency (NIA) continues to question Mumbai Police's disgraced encounter specialist Sachin Vaze on the sixth consecutive day, the accused police officer has yet not revealed the names of the real 'mastermind' of the conspiracy on whose behest he executed the plot to scare India's topmost industrialist Mukesh Ambani, sources in the agency revealed.
Meanwhile ATS, Mumbai made hectic efforts on Friday to seek remand of Vaze, ostensibly to prevent the accused from being grilled further by the Central agency. Vaze is in NIA's custody till March 25.
On ATS Mumbai's objective of seeking Vaze's custody, BJP spokesperson and MLA Ram Kadam said that the ATS which comes under the state government, desperately wants to interrupt NIA's investigation which can possibly unmask the big political names linked with Vaze.
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"Why ATS is active now? Why so late? They (ATS) had been sleeping over the alleged murder of Mansukh Hiran for days... earlier they did not bother to interrogate Sachin Vaze. But now when NIA is closing in on the real mastermind, the ATS wants to prevent further questioning of Vaze who is directly linked with Shiv Sena leadership," said Kadam, who earlier questioned the state government for hushing up the case.
Sources in the NIA said that Vaze is not cooperating with the agency regarding the motive and planning of deep-rooted conspiracy which shook the corporate fraternity.
Vaze, who had earlier admitted his involvement to some extent in the SUV case and his linkages with Hiran, owner of the explosive laden SUV, has been, of late, mum over the conspiracy angle.
"Vaze wants to protect the identity of his political masters. He knows once the top names are revealed, the entire extortion racket and motive of scaring the top Industrialist will be out in public," said Kadam, adding: "Vaze is a small fish in the big pond of crime. Everyone now expects that agency will soon identify the big fish too."
On the other hand, Shiv Sena has taken a u-turn on Vaze.
It had earlier said that Vaze was a capable officer, but now party's spokesperson Sanjay Raut admitted that Vaze committed a mistake and if evidence emerges against him, than he is liable to face action. Talking to media, Raut said that case was been hyped by political opponents.
"The NIA or agencies like ED are being misused by Centre to fix their political rivals. In this case, also NIA was given the investigation by the Centre with a specific purpose. But at the end of the day the truth will survive.... Shiv Sena will continue to complete its term in Maharashtra. Attempts to destabilise the state government will not materialise," he said.
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