Anil Deshmukh reiterates Sharad Pawar’s remark on quarantine, one detail changed

Anil Deshmukh’s clarification comes after Singh wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray last Saturday suggesting the home minister’s involvement in corruption.

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday said he was in quarantine after contracting coronavirus disease (Covid-19) during the period when former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused him of meeting Sachin Vaze, the police officer arrested in connection with Mukesh Ambani security threat case. Singh has accused Deshmukh, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, of corruption.

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh issued a clarification on Twitter on Tuesday. (@AnilDeshmukhNCP/Twitter )

In a video message shared on Twitter, Deshmukh said that he was in a hospital in Nagpur between February 5 and February 15 as he had tested positive for Covid-19. “Over the past few days, false reports are doing rounds in media... I was discharged on February 15 and was under home quarantine for 10 days. On February 15, I came to Mumbai in a private plane,” the state home minister said in Marathi.

Deshmukh’s clarification comes after Singh wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray last Saturday suggesting the home minister’s involvement in corruption. In his letter, Singh has stated Deshmukh told Vaze to collect ₹100 crore a month from Mumbai’s bars and restaurants. The NCP leader has denied the claims saying was Singh was trying to save himself as his involvement in the cases related to bomb scare at Ambani’s home was becoming clearer.

The minister said he was hurt by the attempts made by some people to spread wrong information about his meetings and visits when he was infected with the virus. He clarified that he stepped out of his home for the first time on February 28 for official work. “I am sharing all this so that people are not misguided,” he added.

About his meetings during the period when he was infected with Covid-19, Deshmukh said, “As per doctor's advice, I used to visit park late at night for pranayama. I attended few virtual meetings from the Nagpur hospital and later from my official Mumbai residence during quarantine. Several officials met me at official residence for briefings ahead of the budget session that started from March 1.”

Deshmukh’s video message came a day after NCP’s chief Sharad Pawar made similar comments on the issue except for one detail. “Former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh in his letter stated that Sachin Vaze met the home minister in mid-February whereas the hospital certificate clearly states that he was hospitalised for Covid-19 treatment between February 5 and 15 in Nagpur. Later, he was home quarantined in Nagpur,” Pawar said on Monday.

Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis accused Pawar of diverting the matter. "It seems Sharad Pawar ji is not briefed properly on Parambir Singh letter. In this letter only, the SMS evidence shows that the meeting date was mentioned as end of February. Now who is diverting issue?" Fadnavis said in a tweet and also shared a video of the home minister addressing a press conference on February 15.

Singh, meanwhile, has approached the Supreme Court demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Deshmukh for allegedly running a “money collection scheme” through the police department.