Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh

Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh, on March 22, once again refuted former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s accusations against him. Singh, in the eight-page letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had claimed that there were talks between Deshmukh and Sachin Waze in mid-February. However, Deshmukh, through a video, said he was undergoing COVID-19 treatment in Nagpur hospital between February 5 and February 15 and stepped out of house only after February 28. He also released a statement, which read: 

“The opposition has tried to create confusion among the people of Maharashtra by playing politics even over my illness. Therefore, I must disclose some of the facts. 

On February 5th, I had tested positive for COVID-19. From then until February 15, I was admitted to Alexis Hospital in Nagpur. After I was discharged from the hospital on February 15 and was leaving the hospital to go home for quarantine, at the same time, at the gate of Alexis Hospital, I was stopped by reporters who wanted to ask me few questions related to Hon. Lata Mangeshkar ji and Hon. Sachin Tendulkar’s ji tweet issue.

I told them, I had to go home as I needed to be under home quarantine, and I can’t talk to them because I have weakness as well. But they insisted me to sit on a chair and they wanted to ask few questions maintaining a distance of 10-12 feet.

Since they insisted, I sat on a chair near the gate of the hospital and had a short discussion with the reporters, strictly following the COVID-19 preventive measures. Later, I left from there and home quarantined.