Drugs seized after raid at party in Pune; husband of former minister Eknath Khadse's daughter Rohini Khadse detained

Mumbai: In what snowballed into a Maha Yuti vs Maha Vikas Aghadi row in Maharashtra, the police has arrested seven persons including Dr Pranjal Khewalkar on Sunday after they raided an apartment in the upmarket Kharadi area of Pune where drugs, including cocaine, were recovered.

Khewalkar is the son-in-law of veteran politician Eknath Khadse, a former minister and ex leader of the opposition in Legislative Assembly, who is currently an MLC of Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

Khewalkar is married to Khadse’s daughter Rohini Khadse, the state NCP (SP) women wing president.

Khadse’s daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse, a BJP MP from Raver, is the union minister of state for sports and youth affairs in the Narendra Modi government.

The development comes close on the heels of the war-of-words between Khadse and his political rival from Jalgaon district Girish Mahajan, who is the state disaster management minister in the wake of the ongoing honey trap charges.

A BJP stalwart, Mahajan is considered a close aide of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

In 2020, Khadse, an influential leader from the Leva Patil-OBC community and once a trusted aide of former deputy chief minister and ex-union minister Gopinath Munde, had resigned from BJP and joined the then undivided NCP - following reported differences with Fadnavis.

He has long desired to return to the BJP, however, it has been blocked by Mahajan.

All seven accused have been sent to police custody by the court till July 29.

Khadse said there might be a political motive of the police behind this and a probe should be done in this regard. “There should be a through probe…there should also be a probe whether there is a political motive behind it,” he said.

The MVA leaders said that Khewalkar was made a target as Khadse was speaking out against the BJP and the CM.

Fadnavis, who is also the state home minister, said that he is yet to receive a briefing about the incident.

"Even I saw it only in the media. I've been attending programs since morning, so I haven't received an actual briefing on it yet. Based on what is being shown in the media, the police have busted a rave party, and some people have been found there. Drugs were reportedly found. Once I receive a proper briefing, I will be able to comment on it. Prima facie, it appears that a crime has taken place at that location," Fadnavis said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Nikhil Pingle said during the raid and subsequent search, police seized 2.7 grams of a cocaine-like substance, 70 gm of a ganja-like substance, a hookah pot, various hookah flavours, and liquor and beer bottles.

"We have arrested seven individuals, identified as Pranjal Khewalkar, Nikhil Poptani, Sameer Sayyad, Shripad Yadav, Sachin Bhombe, Isha Singh and Prachi Sharma, under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act," he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that Mahajan seems to be becoming a problem for Fadnavis.

"Raut makes all kinds of allegations...against the Supreme Court, against the Election Commission...top leaders without any basis," said Mahajan.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said: "It should also be examined whether this is being done to settle political scores against the family of Khadse who has caused trouble for the government. If someone is guilty, legal action must certainly be taken, but if this is a political conspiracy, then it is extremely wrong and a sign that politics has sunk to a very low level."