Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya found himself caught in a massive controversy after a Marathi TV channel aired a video allegedly featuring him in a compromising position. BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a high-level probe into the incident, promising that the matter will not be suppressed and “no one will be spared”.
“It is indeed a serious issue. We will conduct a detailed inquiry. The woman in the video will be identified. Police will be told. Nobody will be protected. A senior-level probe will be conducted,” Fadnavis said. He was responding to Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Ambadas Danve and Anil Parab, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, who raised the issue in the state legislature.
Handing over a pen drive containing what he claimed had eight hours of video footage featuring Somaiya, Danve questioned if the woman who handed the videos to him was being extorted. “A leader who claims to be close to ED, CBI… and now I have some videos with me of him. I salute the woman who gave me the videos. The person has CISF protection. Whether the woman was being extorted?” Danve said, naming Somaiya.
Danve further alleged that many people had gone to jail because of Somaiya. “He enjoys CISF protection… will the government act against him and remove his security? Please provide the pen drive to the home department for enquiry,” Danve said, amid chants of ‘shame, shame’ from the Opposition benches.
Speaking later, Parab defended the decision to name Somaiya and claimed that the families of several people were subjected to harassment by central agencies. “The truth of the video should come out. We should find out who the woman is and an SIT should probe the matter. You say you are a party with a difference. We should find out if the woman was being blackmailed. We have heard of extortion of money. This seems to be extortion for sex,” Parab said.
Kirit Somaiya, on his part, wrote to Fadnavis and urged him to investigate the allegations of harassment levelled against him as well as the authenticity of the videos being aired in his name.
“A video clip of me was shown on a news channel. Claimed that I have harrassed many women & many such video clips available & complaints received against Me. I have never abused any woman. Request @Dev_Fadnavis to investigate such allegations and verify the authenticity of Videos (sic),” Somaiya posted on Twitter, tagging a letter that he wrote to the Deputy CM dated July 17.