Sushant Rajput Case: "No BJP leader has taken Aaditya Thackeray's name," Mr Fadnavis said
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that no BJP leader "directly or indirectly" took state minister Aaditya Thackeray's name in connection with Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case.
Talking to reporters in Pune on the sidelines of the inauguration of a COVID-19 hospital in the city, Mr Fadnavis said that surprising revelations are coming up in the case.
Sushant Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai's Bandra on June 14. The CBI has recently taken over the investigation in the case.
When asked, Mr Fadnavis said, "No leader from the BJP has taken the name of Aaditya Thackeray directly or indirectly (in Sushant Rajput case). The kind of revelations that are coming up in the case, I think they are surprising."
The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly wondered why all these revelations did not come to light before the CBI took over the probe.
"After 40 days (of the incident), the CBI took over the investigation. What if evidence were destroyed during these 40 days? I have come to know through media reports that eight hard disks were destroyed," Mr Fadnavis said.
"After seeing these things, a question arises whether Maharashtra police was under any political pressure during the investigation," he said.
"I am sure the CBI will bring the truth out. The only thing is that if the truth was investigated earlier, I think the evidence would not have got destroyed and we would have known the culprit," he said.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had recently alleged a conspiracy to link Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray to the actor's death case.
Although Mr Raut did not take any name, he had said that the Opposition cannot digest the fact that the Sena-led government is in power in the state.
Aaditya Thackeray, son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had himself also clarified that he was nowhere related to the actor's death case, and that he and his family were being targeted for no reason.
Congress leader Sachin Sawant has tweeted a photo of Devendra Fadnavis with film producer Sandeep Singh, whose name has reportedly figured in the investigation. Mr Sawant sought a probe into the "BJP angle" in the case.
When asked about the tweet, Mr Fadnavis said, "Sawant is in the government. Then why did their Mumbai police keep all the suspects away? Why weren't they questioned?"
"Why from the first day, it was termed as a suicide?" he asked.
On the photo, Mr Fadnavis said that he might have been present in some programme, where Sandeep Singh was also there.
"But the same person was a director or producer of a film on Balasaheb Thackeray," he said.
"It shows that Sachin Sawant does not do his homework. He is saying all these things out of frustration," he said.
Mr Sawant in his tweet said, "@OfficeofUT, @AnilDeshmukhNCP request you to see @BJP4India angle in following request. CBI to qn Mr. Sandeep Singh in drug nexus in #SushantSinghRajputDeathCase."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)