Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader (Sharad Pawar faction) and former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh sustained injuries on Monday when unidentified individuals attacked his car with stones on the Katol-Jalalkheda Road in Nagpur district.
The incident occurred while Deshmukh was returning from a public meeting in Narkhed, where he was campaigning for his son, Salil Deshmukh, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate for the Maharashtra Assembly elections. During the attack, a stone shattered the car’s window, striking Deshmukh on the head and causing visible injuries. Visuals from the scene show the former minister bleeding, with glass shards scattered inside the vehicle.
Deshmukh was immediately rushed to a hospital in Katol, where he received medical treatment. The motive behind the attack and the identity of the attackers remain unknown.
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Anil Deshmukh, the sitting MLA, has stepped aside this election, with his son Salil contesting the seat on behalf of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction). Deshmukh had previously served as a minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government under Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.
The senior leader resigned as Maharashtra Home Minister following allegations made by the then Mumbai Police Commissioner, who accused him of directing police officers to extort money from hotel and bar owners in Mumbai. Deshmukh was subsequently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in November 2021 in a money laundering case and by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April 2022 on corruption charges. After spending over a year in judicial custody, he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court.
In July this year, Deshmukh accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of pressuring him to file false affidavits against Uddhav Thackeray and three other MVA leaders to destabilize the government three years ago.
“Three years ago, Devendra Fadnavis asked me to give an affidavit making false allegations against Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, Anil Parab, and Ajit Pawar. I refused to do that. That is why the ED and the CBI were sent after me, and I was kept in jail for 13 months,” the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader alleged.
Fadnavis, however, has denied the claims made by Deshmukh.
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