Nagpur: State home minister Anil Deshmukh on Friday lashed out at former BJP mayor Sandip Joshi, asking him to get his facts right before tweeting misleading facts on social media. Joshi had kicked up a controversy by tweeting a sarcastic message earlier, congratulating the home minister for creating a record by taking the city to the second position in the country in crime rate.
Joshi had based his tweet on a media report regarding the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) statistics of 2019.
Miffed by the politically directed tweet, Deshmukh said Joshi should have thought who was in the power in 2019, and under which home minister such dubious distinction had been achieved. “Whose regime was it in 2019? He (Joshi) should find out all the facts properly before making a statement in public,” he said. Deshmukh’s hint was towards the BJP government’s rule under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was also the home minister then.
Deshmukh further said that crime has been under control in the Mahavikas Aghadi government, and the scenario would be further bettered in coming days. “We have already controlled crime and there would be further clamp down,” he said. “There is a decline in crime including serious offences in last one year. We would further give better results ahead,” said the home minister.
Deshmukh also sounded keen to make the record public in the coming days, clarifying on the improved current crime scenario as per the statistics available with the police department.
Joshi said Fadnavis’ opposition used to frequently make adverse comments on the crime scenario during his tenure. “Since November 2019, the incumbent government (MVA) had been in the power. We can take credit for any development which had started in the regime of the BJP government by inaugurating it, but cannot tolerate a discredit coming in the way,” he said.
Joshi also referred to the daylight murder of Balya Binekar at Bole petrol pump, close to Deshmukh’s house. “There is definitely need for introspection,” he said.