Woman's suicide: Truth and law will prevail, says Raut
Amid allegations that a minister in Maharashtra cabinet is linked to the death of a woman in Pune, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said there have been instances of character assassination in politics but “truth and law” will prevail in this case.
Some social media posts and the BJP have claimed that the 23-year-old woman, who died after falling from a building in Hadapsar area on February 8, was in a relationship with a cabinet minister in the state.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, had already promised a detailed probe and action against the guilty.
“Law will prevail and not what the Opposition wants in this case. Truth will always prevail. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has already said that the case was being probed.
Thackeray [who heads Shiv Sena] is a sensitive person and he will never do anything wrong. People of the state trust him,” Raut told reporters in Nashik.
According to Wanwadi police in Pune who have registered a case of accidental death, there was no suicide note.
Raut said the woman who had recently levelled allegations [of rape] against NCP leader and minister Dhananjay Munde later withdrew them.
“Now there are some allegations against another minister Sanjay Rathod, who is one of the pillars of the Shiv Sena in Vidarbha region [in east Maharashtra]. Truth will come out in the probe. But in politics there have been instances of character assassination and maligning the image of political rivals. And it is believed that one can achieve success in politics [in such manner]. But truth remained unchanged,” he said.
Taking a swipe at the BJP without naming it, Raut said the course of the probe in the alleged suicide will be as per law and it will not be the way the Opposition wants it to be.
“Maharashtra is a place where the law of the land prevails,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis, demanded the state police take suo motu action over the alleged suicide of the woman, and questioned whether the police are under some kind of pressure in connection with the case.
On Saturday, a BJP leader demanded that CM Thackeray set up a special investigation team including an IPS officer and a retired judge, to probe the case.
When asked about the “cold war” between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and Governor B S Koshyari, Raut said, “This is not a cold war but an open war.”
“The BJP is targeting the MVA government using the shoulder of the governor. Raj Bhavan is being used to play politics,” he alleged.
Raut said it was mandatory for the governor to accept the recommendations of the state Cabinet but he is under “political pressure”.
The Sena-led government and Koshyari are at loggerheads over various issues.
The governor is yet to act on the 12 names sent by theMVA government for nomination as members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
The latest such instance of the friction between the state government and the governor occurred on Thursday when he was not allowed to use a state government aircraft to fly out of Mumbai at the last moment.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)
