Will quit if proven guilty: RR

Home Minister, R.R. Patil, said he will quit politics if his links with Pune stud farm owner, Hasan Ali, who was arrested for evading tax of Rs 50,000 crore, were proven, reports HT Correspondent.

Home Minister, R.R. Patil, said he will quit politics if his links with Pune stud farm owner, Hasan Ali, who was arrested for evading tax of Rs 50,000 crore, were proven.

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Patil said this when senior Bharatiya Janata Party legislator, Devendra Fadnavis, alleged that senior Congress and NCP leaders had links with Ali. Fadnavis submitted a video CD with footage of Ali’s interrogation to the Assembly on Tuesday.

The CD shows Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Ashok Deshbhratar, questioning Ali. Fadnavis said the footage shows Ali telling the DCP that he attended a meeting in which politicians, including then Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Home Minister, R.R. Patil, and senior Congress leader, Ahmed Patel, decided to appoint Hasan Gafoor as Mumbai’s police chief.

Ali has been accused of illegally transferring Rs 35,000 crore to underworld gangsters.

Fadnavis claimed Ali had told Deshbhratar that Deputy Chief Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, used to visit the Madh Island residence of Ali’s friend, a certain Lakdawala. Bhujbal denied the charge. Fadnavis demanded a narco analysis on Ali.

An emotional Patil promised a probe into the matter. “I want to know who are behind this conspiracy to malign all of us,” Patil said. “I wonder why a police officer [Deshbhratar] asked a suspect arrested in a tax evasion case these irrelevant questions.”

Patil said Deshbhratar had always demanded plum postings. “But I did not give him any because his confidential reports said he was not fit for executive policing,” Patil said.

He added that Patil Gafoor’s appointment was done on merit and seniority. “Neither Vilasrao (Deshmukh) nor I were told to appoint him to the top post.”