The current Maharashtra government, Mumbai Police and Raj Kundra are known more for their controversies and wrong reason. Mumbai police’s reputation (????) has become a talked of the town, so bad that people find it very difficult to assume which one is genuine action and which one vindictive / vendetta or because of extortion. Former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh has alleged that Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore for him every month. Now if one Sachin Vaze was assigned to collect 100 crores per month, just imagine how many Sachin Vaje could be there in Mumbai or Maharashtra.
Param Bir Singh has further alleged that for achieving this target of Rs 100 crore per month, Anil Deshmukh told Sachin Vaze "there are about 1,750 bars, restaurants and other establishments in Mumbai and if a sum of Rs 2-3 lakh each was collected from each of them, a monthly collection of Rs 40-50 crores was achievable." "The Hon'ble Home Minister [Anil Deshmukh] added that the rest of the collection could be made from other sources," the letter alleges.
Now the other sources could be anything. The point to be noted that this development and the case referred here are both pertaining the same period Feb-March 2021. Could both these be connected? If Anil Deshmukh ordered collection of 100 crores every month, it couldn’t be alone for his own consumption, his party as well as the government must be having some connection. Anil Deshmukh might have been removed from scene, but the need for money seems to be still there. Is it possible that Raj Kundra and his associates have not coughed up the amount demanded for allowing smooth operation - and he landed up getting arrested? Quite possible. Otherwise, its difficult to guess why Mumbai police took more than 4 months to make this arrest.
Off late internet has been flooded with porn rated Indian web series, why only one case has come in to light? What about others? Why selective action. The reason could be anything - somebody might have failed to grease the palm, there could be some political connection, or somebody simply wanted to create some sensation to divert attention. Otherwise the darker side of film industry is known to everybody. Everything happening in wide open. Though personally I believe that like many other high profile case, this case also wouldn’t make much progress. I have my serious doubt whether any charge against Kundra would be proved.
Raj Kundra seems to be always shrouded in mystery. He is like a iceberg. Very little is known about his business and persona over ground, most part of him seems to be underground.
Raj Kundra, former co-owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) was arrested by Delhi Police on charges of betting in the year 2013. Back then, the police had stated they Kundra used to place bets via team co-owner Umesh Goenka. As a result, Kundra was suspended from all cricket-related activities. Rajasthan Royals were also banned for two years. “Kundra used to place bets for the past three years. Kundra placed bets with Goenka. Goenka was a bookie and forwarded bets to others on behalf of Kundra," a senior police official had said.
Later, Kundra’s name cropped up in a spot-fixing scandal also but he was given a clean chit by the Delhi Police following an investigation. Its quite peculiar that strong allegation against Raj Kundra come up all of a sudden and then nothing found against him and he is given clean chit by dropping all charges against him. Interestingly this clean chit is given by the investigating team. First they get lots of evidence against him, and then they find nothing against him. In SSR death case also it was CBI team who declared that there is nothing wrong. The CBI team completed the investigation in a record-breaking time. Whereas the same CBI who generally fails to complete investigation even after taking years, almost in all the major cases.
I am not getting in to the details of the current case here as media is already supplying over dose of it. Personally I will not be surprised if Raj Kundra’s involvement in this case is up to his neck. But as I said in all possibility things will be sorted out and he will come out clean as earlier. Kundra alone couldn’t be running such game, much bigger fishes could be involved. Somebody would pull some string at some point of time - and news will come up that he has been falsely implicated.
Yusuf Bhandarkar, Mumbai 400008.
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