Devendra Fadnavis slams Karnataka over Ajit Pawar zero FIR row

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday slammed the Karnataka government and its state police for filing a zero FIR in the air crash in which Late NCP leader Ajit Pawar and four others died. Fadnavis said that the act by the Karnataka police was ‘illegal’ and meant to ‘defame’ Maharashtra. The zero FIR was filed by Rohit Pawar, nephew of Ajit Pawar in Karnataka.

“Karnataka has no right to file the zero FIR, their act to file this FIR is illegal. The rule to file a zero FIR says that when a victim is not in a position to file a FIR (at the police station under whose jurisdiction a crime occurred) then a zero FIR can be filed (at a different police station) and then converted into a FIR into where the crime occurred.”said the Chief Minister while speaking in the State Assembly on the circumstances surrounding Ajit Pawar’s death as well as the investigation in the case.

Slamming Karnataka, he said, “ Karnataka has no right to file such a FIR in such a manner. Tomorrow if we keep this as a precedent then tomorrow our (Minister) Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil will file a zero FIR in a Mumbai police station against the Karnataka Chief Minister. So this is not a procedure to file a zero FIR.”said Fadnavis.


Acknowledging that everyone in the house was deeply affected and aggrieved by the untimely death of Ajit Pawar, Fadnavis however told Rohit that he was not approaching the issue the right way. “ In an accident case we first file an Accidental Death Report (ADR), if there is negligence found then the ADR would be automatically converted into a FIR. You have all the right to be aggrieved, but if you want the ADR to be converted into a FIR then as per the BNHS section 175 (3) you have to go to the court and as per their directions an FIR can be filed.”said the Chief Minister.

Attributing political motives to the Karnataka government filing a Zero FIR in the Ajit Pawar case, the Chief Minister said, “ It may not be in your head(Rohit Pawar) but the Karnataka government has filed the FIR with a political motive as they wanted to show that in Maharashtra investigation (into Ajit’s plane crash) is not going as it should and trying to show that the investigation has been derailed. They are trying to project that the investigation is under some kind of pressure. They are just doing this to defame the state.”said Fadnavis.

He added, “The Karnataka police should have told you (Rohit) that this was not a case where a zero FIR can be filed, because you (Rohit) have accessibility to the police station where the ADR has been registered.

Fadnavis emphasized that the government was keen to find out the reasons for the air crash and promised that if his government found that the crash was due to any conspiracy then it would no stone unturned to catch the culprits and get them to justice.