Minister Slams Maharashtra Alliance Over Case Of Mumbai Cop Sachin Waze

Ravi Shankar Prasad expressed astonishment over Mr Waze, "a mere assistant inspector", having been defended inside and outside the assembly by none other than Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday called for a "fair and impartial probe by an outside agency" into the controversy surrounding Mumbai policeman Sachin Waze and his alleged patronisation by top leaders of the ruling Shiv Sena-NCP combine in Maharashtra. Mr Prasad expressed astonishment over Mr Waze, "a mere assistant inspector", having been defended inside and outside the assembly by none other than Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. He also questioned the "silence" of NCP chief Sharad Pawar in the matter though his party colleague and home minister Anil Deshmukh has been accused of asking the policeman to "extort Rs 100 crore from dance bars etc. every month". "The Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra has been formed with an intention to loot and not to govern. The BJP is going to raise this issue very strongly and will soon hit the streets", Mr Prasad declared at a press conference at the party office in Patna.