Damania accuses Khadse of ‘harassment’

Anti-corruption activist and erstwhile AAP leader Anjali Damania on Friday charged that senior BJP leader and former Minister Eknath Khadse was indulging in “pure harassment” against her, after a Maharashtra court issued a non-bailable warrant against her in a defamation case filed against by the latter.

Hours after a Raver court in Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against her for her failure to appear before it despite repeated summons served on her, Damania alleged that Khadse’s supporters had managed to obtain a “non-bailable” warrant against by “misguiding” the court.

While issuing the NBW issued against her, Raver taluka judge D G Malaviya scheduled the next hearing of the case for May 14.

Reacting sharply to the development, Damania tweeted: “Eknath Khadse has now resorted to pure harassment.1st filed 22 defamn cases against me & now by misguiding Raver court his supporters have managed to get another arrest warrant. Through in my clubbing application, Mum HC has served notices as Hamdast to SP Jalgaon, Nashik & Raigad”.

Talking to “The Pioneer” later in the evening, Damania said that she would move the Bombay High Court on Monday to seek a stay on the non-bailable warrant issued against her. The same Raver taluka court had earlier on February 8 this year issued an arrest warrant against her arrest warrant under sections 500 (Punishment for defamation) and 501 ( printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory and directed the Santacruz Police in Mumbai to execute the warrant on Damania.

Damania said that after the issuance of the arrest warrant by the Raver court, she had moved the Bombay High Court appealed for clubbing of 22 defamation cases filed by Khadse’s supporters in different court and based on her petition, the high court had served notices as Hamdast on the district police superintendents of Jalgaon, Nashik and Raigad.

“The order had also given the liberty of moving the high court as and when I receive summons from lower courts in connection with various defamation cases filed against me. Therefore, I am moving the Bombay High Court on Monday to seek a stay on the non-bailable warrant issued against me by the Raver court earlier in the day,” Damania said.

The NBW issued against Damania by the Raver court was in connection with one of the 11 defamation cases filed by Khadse’s supporters in the taluka courts ofMuktainagar, Bhusaval, Raver, Yaval, Jalgaon, Dharangaon, Chopda, Amalner, Chalisgaon, Bhadgaon and Pachora in the BJP leader’s home district of Jalgaon in north Maharashtra in July 2016 for allegedly defaming their leader.

It may be recalled that Damania had made many allegations against Khadse in July last year. The allegations made by her included the alleged nexus nexus between Khadse and Karachi-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, alleged irregularities in the purchase of a plot of land at Bhosari in Pune district and conversation of a Hyundai Sonata, registered with Jalgaon RTO, which has been into a modified limousine.

On June 4, 2016, Khadse had resigned from his post as the State Revenue Minister over irregularities in the purchase of a plot of land at Bhosari in Pune district.

Chief Mnister Devendra Fadnavis had then appointed a judicial committee, headed by retired Bombay HC judge Dinkar Zoting, to probe the allegations of corruption against Khadse.

The charge against Khadse was that he, his wife Mandakini and son-in-law Girish Chaudhary had hatched a conspiracy and purchased a 3-acre plot of land at Bhosri near Pune owned Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in the name of his kin for Rs 3.75 crore as against the market price of Rs 40 crore.

On his part, Khadse had denied that he had indulged in any wrong doing in the Pune land deal case.

While the Zoting committee had given a clean chit to Khadse in the Bhosari land deal, the ATS had cleared Khadse of his alleged links with Dawood. Maharashtra Lokayukta Justice (Retd) M L Tahaliyani had also given a clean chit to Eknath Khadse in the bribery case involving his "personal assistant" Gajanan Patil.