- NCP MLC Amol Mitkari retracted his comments and apologised for questioning Anjana Krishna's credentials
- Ajit Pawar had rebuked the IPS officer over phone, asking her to stop action against illegal soil excavation
- Mr Pawar later stated he aimed to de-escalate the situation and did not want to interfere
NCP MLC Amol Mitkari, who had questioned IPS officer Anjana Krishna's educational and caste certificates based on which she cleared the UPSC exam, on Saturday retracted his comments and apologised.
A row erupted when Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar rebuked Krishna, sub-divisional police officer of Karmala, over the phone and asked her to stop action against illegal soil excavation.
Facing flak after the video went viral, Pawar on Friday said he did not want to interfere but was trying to de-escalate a tense situation.
Mitkari had tweeted that he had sought information from the UPSC on Anjana Krishna's educational and caste certificates, based on which she cleared UPSC examinations.
He was slammed by NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule and Congress leader Yashomati Thakur for targeting the woman police officer.
"This was not my party's position. It is my personal view. I have the highest respect for our police force and the officers who serve honestly. I completely agree with the position of the party's senior leadership," Mitkari said on Saturday.
The MLC said he was retracting the tweet regarding the Solapur incident and apologising.
The video, aired by Marathi news channels, showed Krishna talking to Pawar on a local NCP worker's phone. She did not recognise his voice at first.
Pawar then made a video call to the police officer, and purportedly asked her in a stern tone to stop action against the illegal excavation of 'murrum' soil.
The incident occurred on August 31 when revenue department officials and Krishna reached Kapre Wasti in Solapur district to take action against illegal excavation.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
