Ajit’s phone ‘altercation’ with woman cop goes viral

The incident, which took place two days ago, was filmed and is playing on a loop on regional news channels. In the clip, Pawar purportedly speaks to sub-divisional police officer from Solapur, Anjali Krishna, from the phone of an NCP worker, who had sought his intervention in the matter

MUMBAI: An angry deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has left his party scrambling to limit the fallout of an altercation he allegedly had with a woman probationary IPS officer, pulling her up for taking action against goons illegally excavating material used in road construction in a village in Solapur. His sarcasm, caught on camera, only made matters worse.

Ajit’s phone ‘altercation’ with woman cop goes viral

The incident, which took place two days ago, was filmed and is playing on a loop on regional news channels. In the clip, Pawar purportedly speaks to sub-divisional police officer from Solapur, Anjali Krishna, from the phone of an NCP worker, who had sought his intervention in the matter.

But Krishna doesn’t recognise Pawar’s voice. “I can understand what you’re saying, but I am unable to figure out if I am talking to the deputy CM, sir. Can you please call on my number,” she asks.

Her reply apparently makes Pawar furious. He shoots back, sarcastically, “Main aapko video call karta hoon… tabhi aap mera chehra pahchan paoge (Will you be able to recognise my face if I make a video call?)?”

Pawar proceeds to make the video call and allegedly orders Krishna to stop action against the illegal excavation of murrum, widely used as a sub-base and filling material for road construction. He also threatens her with action for “disobeying the deputy chief minister of the state”.

In the clip, the IPS officer is seen seated on the boundary wall of a field, being taken to task by Pawar. She is heard saying that she was taking action as recommended by the local revenue authority. But Pawar was having none of that. “You stop the action and go back to your office. Tell the tehsildar that the action has been stopped on the orders of the deputy CM,” he is heard telling Krishna.

According to local reports, the individuals excavating the construction material have criminal records. Pawar’s dressing down emboldens them, and they push and shove local officials present when Krishna sought to act against them. Two talathis, village-level revenue officers, were also beaten up by the goons.

There was no reaction from Pawar himself, or chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who heads the home department. State NCP chief Sunil Tatkare was left to clean up the mess.

Tatkare claims his party chief, Ajit Pawar, did not instruct the officer to stop taking action, rather, to defer it. “Pawar is known for straight talk. He asked the woman IPS officer to defer the action as there were issues relating to law and order in the state. These things keep happening while dealing with the bureaucracy and there was nothing wrong with what he said or did,” Tatkare said.

State home department officials were tight-lipped on the incident. However, social activist Anjali Damania criticised Pawar, saying, “The highly qualified IPS officer was threatened by the deputy CM for being questioned by her. The deputy CM should have been mindful when dealing with the officer,” she said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushama Andhare said an “upright officer” such as Anjali Krishna should be applauded. “The woman officer’s question was valid. Why should she stop the action? There was nothing wrong in wanting to verify if the call was really from the deputy CM.”