These days, Shyam Manav, president of the All India Superstition Eradication Committee, is continuously criticizing BJP leaders, acting as the Congress leader’s spokesperson. He alleged that pressure was put on Anil Deshmukh to recover crores of rupees from gutkha traders. The NCP Sharad Pawar faction leader Anil Deshmukh was under pressure to implicate Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, and Anil Parab. Shyam Manav’s nonstop shocking reports have created ruckus in the political corridors. Importantly, Anil Deshmukh, while talking to ABP Majha, also claimed that all the allegations made by Shyam Manav are completely true.
Anil Deshmukh was constantly being pressured by some people to give a statement to the investigation agencies that Ajit Pawar had called him to the Devagiri bungalow in the presence of Parth Pawar and demanded he earn crores of rupees every month from the gutka businessmen. This indicates that the junior Pawar was already in cahoots with the NDA alliance to destabilize the then-ruling government of Maha Vikas Aghadi. When Anil Deshmukh was Home Minister, it was said by some people that if you want to clear yourself from the ED case, you should name Uddhav Thackeray in the Rs 100 crore recovery case and Aditya Thackeray’s name in the Disha Salian rape and murder case.
Disha Salian was the former manager of the late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Salian died on June 8, 2020, after allegedly falling from a high-rise building in Mumbai. A few days later, on June 14, Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his residence in Mumbai. In 2021, the police closed the investigation into the death of Disha Salian after finding no evidence of foul play. However, amid allegations, the Maharashtra government in December 2023 constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Salian’s death. The Sushant Singh Rajput case stormed the world. The BJP took his suicide to their advantage, and many Bollywood celebrities were harassed, aiming their funds and support at those who were out of power at the time.
Then the zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Sameer Wankhede, was given supari to harass all those celebrities who were prime members of the film fraternity. Later on, Sameer Wankhede was booked by the CBI in May 2023 on charges of seeking a Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case. Wankhede was transferred from Mumbai to Delhi, and all this chaos was settled. Nawab Malik, the former Minority Development, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship Minister of Maharashtra, chased and exposed Sameer Wankhede. Later on, he was also jailed and released but asked to keep quiet.
There was constant pressure on Anil Deshmukh to name Anil Parab in the case of illegal transactions related to him. However, Deshmukh did not obey the orders. There was constant pressure to implicate Ajit Pawar or at least the Thackeray father-son duo, in false cases. Not only this, but by putting pressure on Anil Deshmukh, he was supposed to tell the investigation agencies that Ajit Pawar had called him to Devagiri bungalow in the presence of Parth Pawar and asked him to recover crores of rupees from gutka traders. But Anil Deshmukh refused to do so.
Shyam Manav has claimed that because of this, Anil Deshmukh had to stay in jail for 13 months. Shyam Manav has also claimed that Sanjay Raut was implicated in a false case in a similar manner. Shyam Manav actually acted as the supari crusader against Devendra Fadnavis. Devendra Fadnavis alleged that Shyam Manav should have discussed this with him before making such big allegations. Speaking on this, Shyam Manav said that meeting Devendra Fadnavis is not easy. I have waited for hours to meet him for three years, but they could not meet. Here I want to differ because, after Vilasrao Deshmukh, Devendra Fadnavis is one such leader who always met people and obliged them on various occasions.
Shyam Manav was included in various committees by this same government. The Maharashtra state government. formed a ‘Project Implementation and Monitoring Committee (PIMC)’ with the objective of spreading awareness and educating people about the Anti-Black Magic Act. Shyam Manav, after playing a major role in drafting the bill, was made joint president of this committee, as mentioned on the official page of Manav.
The people of Maharashtra saw an exchange of allegations between Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, and Shyam Manav, advocating the Congress leader’s stand. Devendra Fadnavis, while reacting to the allegations of Deshmukh, warned him that he doesn’t spare anyone who troubles him unnecessarily. Fadnavis also termed Shyam Manav a contract killer (suparibaaz). Is it interesting to watch if this gimmick fetches any seats for Shyam Manav in the forthcoming elections? Or his political stint may come to an end with this episode?
