Former Maharashtra Home Minister and Sharad Pawar-led NCP leader Anil Deshmukh stated at a press conference on Wednesday that he plans to produce a Regional Forensic Science Laboratory report shortly and use it to challenge the closure of a police case that investigated an attack against him in 2024, just before the Maharashtra state assembly elections, which were held last year.
“The forensic report has clearly stated that my (Anil Deshmukh’s) car was hit by a stone, especially a large stone weighing ten kilograms. Since the road had a big curve, the speed of the car was very low. The stone broke the glass and injured my forehead, it said. I will produce this forensic report soon and take appropriate action based on it. I have seen the forensic report. I was the Home Minister of Maharashtra. I got to see that report from the police department,” Anil Deshmukh told media persons.
Deshmukh alleged that BJP leader Parinay Fuke had stated the incident was “fake” and the superintendent of police at that time gave a statement even before the investigation was complete, due to political pressure. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also dismissed the incident as a “Salim-Javed screenplay”, Deshmukh said.
He stressed that the Nagpur rural police ought to have conducted a proper investigation and arrested the two people who allegedly threw stones, but instead, it submitted a ‘B Summary’ report and closed the case after calling the incident “a fabricated attack”.
“They should have submitted the ‘A Summary’ report since the accused were not found by the police, but instead, they submitted a ‘B Summary’ report and closed the case. Hence, we will take appropriate steps based on the forensic report, which has come out,” Anil Deshmukh said.
Significantly, Anil Deshmukh held the press conference today after the Nagpur rural police closed the case into the attack on him and also sought permission from the court to prosecute the complainant. The Nagpur rural police closed the investigation into the 2024 stone attack on Anil Deshmukh, after declaring the case “false” through a ‘B Summary’ report filed in a local court.
According to the police, it was Deshmukh’s personal assistant, Ujjwal Bhoyar, who had filed the police complaint, alleging a stone attack on the Sharad Pawar-led NCP leader on November 18, 2024, when Deshmukh was returning to Katol from an election campaign meeting in Narkhed village of Nagpur district.
According to the police complaint filed in 2024, four unidentified people pelted stones at Anil Deshmukh’s car near Katol, and one stone struck Deshmukh on his head, causing bleeding, while glass fragments were found inside his vehicle. Later, Anil Deshmukh was admitted to a private hospital in Nagpur.
The stone attack incident happened when Anil Deshmukh was campaigning for his son, Salil Deshmukh, who contested the 2024 Maharashtra state assembly election from Katol constituency as a Sharad Pawar-led NCP candidate.
Deshmukh alleged that the police were under political pressure from the ruling party, and hence the incident was given a political colour. “The police should have submitted an ‘A Summary’ report since they could not find the culprits, and instead they submitted a ‘B Summary’ report,” Deshmukh said.
A ‘B Summary’ report is a final report filed by police in a criminal case when the investigation shows no evidence or prima facie case against the accused, or that the complaint is false or frivolous, while an ‘A Summary’ report is filed for real but yet undetected cases.
The Nagpur rural police submitted the ‘B Summary’ report at a court in Katol here last week after forensic findings and inquiries supposedly failed to support the claims made in the police complaint about the alleged attack, filed by Deshmukh’s personal assistant, Ujjwal Bhoyar.