Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today in a press conference said that a thorough investigation will be held in the Pooja Chavan suicide case. The chief minister assured that appropriate action will be taken against the culprits after the investigation.
Thackeray's comments came after Maharashtra Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod resigned from the state cabinet. Rathod was facing flak from the opposition BJP after being linked to the Pooja Chavan suicide case. The Thackeray said Rathod has resigned from his post but clarified that the party did not ask him to resign.
Defending Rathod, the chief minister said that no one should to pronounced guilty on mere suspicion. He further said that Rathod is a community leader and has done great work.
Announcing his resignation earlier in the day, Sanjay Rathod had said, "there has been a lot of dirty politics over the issue of the woman's death," adding that he has quit the ministry so that the truth can come out.
Talking to reporters after meeting the CM at his official residence 'Varsha', Rathod said he had resigned to facilitate a free and fair probe.
"Attempts were made to tarnish my image and destroy my reputation I had built after 30 years of social work. I was saying that let the probe happen before taking any decision. But the Opposition threatened to disrupt the budget session," Rathod said.
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Earlier, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Devendra Fadnavis said the resignation of the minister wasn't enough and demanded that an FIR should be filed against him. The BJP has accused Rathod of having links with the woman after his purported photographs, audio and video clips with her went viral on social media.
Pooja Chavan, a 22-year-old girl from Beed, had gone to Pune for a spoken English class. She was living in Heaven Park society in Hadapsar, Pune along with two persons, said to be a brother and his friend. On February 8, Pooja committed suicide by allegedly jumping off the third floor of the building.
Later a complaint was lodged at the Wanwadi police station. Since then, some audio clips allegedly related to her suicide have gone viral. Opposition parties have blamed Forest Minister Sanjay Rathore for the incident and demanded his resignation.
