Sanjay Raut, the top spokesman and MP for the Shiv Sena (UBT), said on Thursday that the family of Maharashtra top Minister Eknath Shinde in his home area of Thane had allegedly benefitted from a fraud involving many crores of rupees during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Speaking to the media, Raut said that the suspected fraud comprised allegedly false invoices for Covid facilities in the Thane and Kalyan-Dombivali municipalities of the district that were given by certain firms.
Raut waved a stack of papers and said, “I have evidence of this. Fraudulent bills for crores of rupees were raised for providing the facilities, which benefited Shinde’s family at that time.” He then demanded a response from the relevant authorities.
The Sena (UBT) leader vowed to look into the matter and said that the Shiv Sena, which is now in power, should examine its own internal matters before making accusations against others.
He made reference to Shinde’s action three days prior to form a Mumbai Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into allegations of fraud involving Rs 12,000 crore in expenses incurred by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) during the Covid-19 pandemic following a special audit by the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) in March.
The Sena (UBT) has announced a massive protest march to the BMC headquarters in south Mumbai on July 1 to draw attention to the alleged corruption in the largest and wealthiest municipal organisation in the nation.
