Will Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray force his cabinet colleague, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, to act tough and suspend senior IPS officer Amitabh Gupta, currently special principal secretary in home department, for aiding travel of 23 persons—including Wadhawan family allegedly linked to YES bank case—to hill station Mahabaleshwar in the time of strict enforcement of lockdown in the state?
Father son duo Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, who were granted bail in February this year by a special money laundering court, have been detained in Mahabaleshwar, along with their family members and aides.
According to reports, ED had, in March, issued a fresh summons against Wadhawan, promoters of DHFL, in the Yes Bank case. Interestingly, they avoided appearing before ED, citing COVID-19 outbreak as the reason.
The travel to Mahabaleswhar by Wadhawans, their friends and aides was facilitated by senior IPS officer Amitabh Gupta who is currently principal secretary in the home department of Maharashtra government.
In his letter, issued on an official letterhead, Gupta has written that “following (persons) are well known to me as they are my family friends and traveling from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar for family emergency.”
The letter then gives details of five vehicles in which these 23 persons, including Wadhawan family members, traveled to Mahabaleshwar. Interestingly, the two vehicles of the five mentioned in the letter are registered in Jharkhand.
At a time when police machinery is leaving no stone unturned to make people stay at home let alone travel from one district to another, Wadhawans were allowed to travel to their farmhouse at the hill station Mahabaleshwar in Satara district.
When CM Uddhav Thackeray came to know about this after regional news channel ABP MAJHA broke the story, he got extremely upset. Maharashtra DGP Subodh Jaiswal then briefed the CM as to what had happened.
The chief minister is unhappy with the developments and has asked the home minister to personally look into the matter. Deshmukh recently tweeted that government will conduct an inquiry into the incident.
What remains to be seen is whether Uddhav Thackeray and Anil Deshmukh issue orders to suspend senior IPS officer Amitabh Gupta for his letter which aided Wadhawans and also violated the lockdown that the government is so strictly enforcing.
“Wadhawans, who are accused in the Yes Bank fraud had non-bailable warrants issued against them. Instead of arresting them and handing them over to the CBI, Maharashtra government gives them VVIP treatment. Home Minister Anil Deshmukh owes an explanation to the country,” said BJP MP Kirit Somaiya
