High drama over allegations against Hasan Mushrif ends as police detain BJP leader Kirit Somaiya at Karad railway station in Satara

@the_news_21

Pune: The game of brinkmanship that began on Sunday between senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government finally ended in the wee hours of Monday with his arrest. The police de-trained the former BJP MP at Karad railway station in Satara district close to 5.00 am. The prohibitory orders issued under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) by the Kolhapur district administration had already been served on Somaiya yesterday asking him to restrain himself from entering Kolhapur district citing security concerns.

A video clip later surfaced showing the BJP leader being escorted out of the station by police officers and security personnel. 

“Police stopped me at Karad under Prohibitory order,” he tweeted, adding that he would speak to the media at the Karad Circuit House to expose one more scam of senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif. 

It may be recalled that last week, Somaiya had accused Mushrif and his relatives of being involved in a Rs. 127 crore money laundering scam case. He was scheduled to visit the properties owned by Mushrif in Kolhapur in this connection today. 

On Sunday, Somaiya had alleged that he was being detained at his own residence in Mumbai and had launched a scathing attack against the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. 

“Who in the Thackeray government has given these orders restricting me from going out of Mumbai?”  asked Somaiya. Later in the evening he made his way to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) where he boarded the Mahalaxmi Express for Kolhapur. 

Before leaving he had tweeted: “Thackeray Sarkar Dadagiri; Notice is for Kolhapur District “No Entry”, but not allowing me to move out from my house…Mulund Police wants to arrest me, but no warrant, no order…it’s totally illegal.” 

On Saturday evening, Kolhapur District Collector Rahul Rekhawar had issued a restraining order under Section 144 (1) (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 for September 20 and 21 prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons in public places in the district. 

Rekhawar said that the move had been made with the objective of precluding a law-and-order situation that could arise in the view of Somaiya’s anticipated visit. 

“Former MP Dr. Kirit Somaiya has accused Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif of corruption. The repercussions of his allegations were felt in Kolhapur district with (Mushrif) supporters publicly protesting Somaiya’s allegations…. they have threatened the BJP leader with dire consequences in the event he dared to visit the district,” said a senior district administration official, explaining the reason for the imposition of the prohibitory orders. 

Officials further said that Mushrif, too, was expected to arrive in his Kagal constituency bastion in Kolhapur district. 

“A large crowd of anywhere between 15,000 to 20,000 Mushrif supporters are expected to be present. The crowd was expected to use tractors, trolleys, dumpers, JCBs as means to prevent Somaiya from inspecting Mushrif’s properties in Kagal. Therefore, to maintain public order in the district, we have imposed restraining orders beginning 5 p.m. from today and extending till midnight of September 21,” said the official. 

The order states that any person or organization who does not comply with the directive will be prosecuted under sections 188, 269, 270 and 271 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 (45). 

Minutes after Somaiya’s allegations last week, Mushrif, an influential leader from Kolhapur, said he would file a Rs. 100 crore defamation suit against the BJP leader at the Kolhapur district court within the next fortnight.   

Dismissing Somaiya’s allegations as “utterly baseless” and “without any shred of evidence”, Mushrif claimed that the BJP leader was badly uninformed and was uttering ill-informed allegations at the behest of BJP State President Chandrakant Patil.  

Somaiya, who has been targeting senior leaders in the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government with alleged scam exposes, said he has already filed a complaint and submitted documents with Income Tax authorities in Mumbai and was in the process of giving documents to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).  

Claiming that he had had an unblemished reputation throughout his political career, the NCP leader said that the BJP was playing these low political games as they had no support base in Kolhapur. In July 2019, a team of the Income Tax Department raided Mushrif’s residence and factory premises in Kolhapur.  

At the time, it was widely believed that the raid on Mushrif’s home was owing to the NCP leader’s alleged ‘refusal’ to join former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP -Shiv Sena coalition government and that had prompted the BJP to unleash the I-T Department on him.