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- Eknath Shinde Cabinet BJP MLA; Four Arrested By Mumbai Police Crime Branch
Mumbai5 minutes ago
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In Mumbai, a case of demanding 100 crores for a BJP MLA to get a cabinet minister post has come to the fore. The Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Crime Branch of Police has arrested four persons for cheating in the name of ministerial post with Rs 90 crore in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s cabinet. These people had made this offer in front of 3 to 4 MLAs.
The four accused arrested are from Mumbai.
The arrested people have been identified as Riyaz Allahbax Shaikh, a resident of Hatkanagale in Kolhapur district, Yogesh Madhukar Kulkarni, a resident of Thane, Sagar Vikas Sangwai, a resident of Nagpada in Mumbai, and Zafar Ahmed Rashid Ahmed Usmani. Police said that according to the personal secretary of the MLA, he had received a call from a person named Riyaz at around 12:12 am on July 17.
Police is also probing that how many more MLAs these accused were in contact with and how many people had taken money from them.
Called to meet at hotel and told to pay money the next day
These MLAs, who were lured by the minister’s post, also talked to the accused thrice on the phone. After this, on July 17 itself, the accused called the MLAs to meet the Oberoi Hotel in Nariman Point. During this, the accused told the MLAs that to get a place in the cabinet, they would have to pay Rs 90 crore, 20% of which would be given immediately and the rest after taking oath as the minister.
The MLA told his secretary that the accused Riyaz had made a call earlier on 12th July also demanding 100 crores for the post of minister.
MLA did this trick to catch Riyaz
- The MLA asks his PA to call Zafar and Riyaz to the hotel to meet him. On the same day at around 5:15 pm, Riyaz met the MLA.
- After this the demand has been reduced from 100 crores to 90 crores. That is, the first installment of 20% amount (18 crores) will have to be given to Riyaz on the next day.
- The MLA alerted the Mumbai Crime Branch’s AEC on suspicion of disturbances. After this, Riyaz was called to LIC the next day at 1:15 pm.
- After Riyaz reached the spot, he was taken to the Oberoi Hotel where the police caught him. During this the MLA was also present in the hotel.
- During interrogation, Riyaz disclosed the name of the second accused Yogesh Kulkarni. It was this that introduced him to Sagar Sangwai.
- Sagar had said that he knew a senior politician in Delhi who would confirm a seat in the Shinde cabinet by taking 50 to 60 crores.
- After this, Kulkarni took the MLA’s bio-data from Riyaz Sheikh and sent it to Sagar Sangwai.
- Sangwai, during interrogation, was said to be close to the politician, who was about to use his clout for the MLA.
Trying to take advantage under the guise of cabinet expansion
In fact, everyone’s eyes are on the formation of the new government in the state and the expansion of the cabinet, due to which many MLAs are making rounds of Nandanvan (Bungalow of Eknath Shinde) and Sagar (Bungalow of Devendra Fadnavis). In order to take advantage of this, four accused tried to cheat 3 MLAs in the name of getting ministerial posts in the cabinet.
The four arrested have been booked under IPC sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating for dishonest delivery of property). He was produced in the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court and remanded to police custody till July 26.