Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, 9 November, accused Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik of having had dealings over property with people from the underworld who have been convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case.
Fadnavis, who was addressing a press conference, began by saying, "I had said I will expose somethings after Diwali. It took some time to get papers. I am not narrating a Salim Javed script."
Fadnavis Says Malik Had Land Dealings With Underworld Figures
"He purchased land from convicts of the case on rates cheaper than market rates. Was this deal to save prime land from being forfeited under TADA law," Fadnavis asked.
The former Maharashtra CM went on to claim that he had in his possession documents of five of Malik's property deals, four of which were allegedly linked to the underworld.
Fadnavis also alleged that in 2005, Malik's son Faraz had bought land on LBS Road from a Mumbai bombing accused.
"A prime land on LBS Road in Kurla was bought at a meagre price of Rs 30 lakh when the market rate was Rs 2,053 per square feet in 2005. Malik was a minister in the Congress-NCP government in 2005," he stated, adding that the property was bought from blast convicts Salim Patel and Sardar Shahab Ali Khan.
Fadnavis claimed that the total deal for the plot was Rs 30 lakh but the amount paid was only Rs 20 lakh. “The amount went to the accounts of Salim Patel and SA Khan,” he said.
“We shall send all the evidence to the competent authorities. I shall also send it to NCP chief Sharad Pawar to show him what his ministers are up to,” he said.
Nawab Malik Reacts
Shortly after Fadnavis held his press conference, Malik also addressed the media, saying that in turn, he would "drop a hydrogen bomb" on Wednesday in connection with the former.
"Fadnavis came to Mumbai for the first time in 1999 as an MLA. Before you, Gopinath Munde also kept connecting with the underworld. Now you have started the game of underworld, so tomorrow morning at 10 am I will reveal a Devendra Fadnavis under world connection. I will give this information about how Fadnavis, while being the chief minister, had made the entire city hostage through the underworld."Nawab Malik
"How did Fadnavis make the entire city hostage? How the kingpin of the underworld used to collect from this city by sitting abroad. For whom did he work? I will bring the truth about this in front of the nation," he added.
Malik, denying the charges levelled by the BJP leader against him, said that Fadnavis is trying to malign his image by connecting him to blast convicts and the underworld.
"They did same by saying that drugs were recovered from my house. I will send him a legal notice," he was quoted as saying.
(With inputs from ANI)
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