BJP minister and 9 cops face probe for attending Dawood relative’s marriage

Spokesperson of Pradesh Congress Committee accuses Fadnavis of double standards

The opposition parties, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, have tried to corner Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the presence of Girish Mahajan at the marriage ceremony of the niece of underworld don Dawood. Sachin Sawant, spokesperson of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, accused Fadnavis of having double standards.

The BJP minister, some party legislators and few police officers attended the wedding of the niece of the fugitive don who is residing in Pakistan. “This is a very serious and shocking issue. A high-level probe should be conducted,” Sawant told reporters on Thursday.

Referring to the episode of Eknath Khadse, former revenue minister who was forced to tender his resignation, over mere allegations by a hacker who accused Khadse of calling Dawood in Pakistan, Sawant sought to know why were different standards of justice being applied in the two cases.

“Why is the CM adopting double standards? The government had immediately ordered an inquiry when it was alleged that calls were made to Dawood from senior Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse’s office. Even before these allegations were proved false, Khadse was forced to resign. The same principle should have been adopted here in case of Girish Mahajan,” Sawant said, adding the alleged calls made to Dawood was one of the reasons why Khadse was asked to resign.

“The marriage function in which BJP leaders and some police officials were present, was of people very close to Dawood Ibrahim. This shows Dawood’s well-wishers are so entrenched in the system,” Sawant said.

The guest list of the marriage in the family of a Konkani Muslim family has also become a nightmare for nine police officers and staff. The marriage of the youngest daughter of a rich businessman Zaki Konkani was held with the son of Khatib e Shahar, a sort of spiritual head of Nashik Muslims.

Zaki Konkani is said to be related to Dawood Ibrahim and objections had been raised over the presence of the police officers and staff. The marriage was held in the huge Thakkar’s Dome hall on Trimbak Road on May 22.

City Police Commissioner (CP) Ravindra Singhal said on Thursday that, they were probing the issue and recorded the statements of some police persons. “The statements of some other police persons could not be recorded because of the Malegaon elections,” he said.

Police officers who requested anonymity said they were invited by Khatib-e-Shahar, who is a member of the local peace committee and commands respect in the Muslim Community and neither has he any police cases against him. It is due to senior leaders like him that no communal disturbances have occurred in Nashik, especially the Bhadrakali area and we were obliged to accept his invitations, they said.

The Konkanis and Khatibs are from the Konkan Region and marry only amongst themselves and not among local Muslims. As in all small clans, blood relations and family trees are very closely related.

In Nashik, the Konkanis and Khatibs are mostly in the dairy business, are deeply religious and not related to crime, sources said.