The 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena' party on Wednesday demanded a probe either by CID or CBI into "fake" affidavits pledging support to Uddhav Thackeray-led faction and claimed the "fraud" is akin to another Telgi fake stamp paper scam.
The Mumbai Police recently registered an FIR against unidentified persons on charges of cheating and forgery after recovering more than 4,500 affidavits being prepared in support of the Thackeray-led faction, now called 'Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray' party.
Naresh Mhaske, the spokesperson of the Shinde faction, on Wednesday, alleged similar "fake" affidavits were prepared in other districts of the state too.
"The probe into the mega fraud of ghost affidavits should be handed over to the state CID or the CBI and an SIT should be formed," he said and alleged that "a contract of Rs 10 crore was given for preparing these fake affidavits".
He also claimed several such affidavits have been submitted to the Election Commission which also needs to be probed.
Mr Mhaske alleged that the maker of the affidavit is on the run.
"These fake affidavits were prepared with the help of electoral rolls," he added.
Notably, it was Mhaske who in a video message had claimed that the Mumbai Police have found 4,682 "fake" affidavits and registered a criminal case against unidentified persons based on a complaint.
The former Thane mayor also claimed that 80% of the elected representatives of the parent party- Shiv Sena- and cadres are supporting the Shinde faction.
The Election Commission is hearing the plea of the Shinde faction which demanded that it be recognised as the "real" Shiv Sena on the principle of support of the majority of MLAs, MPs, and organisation members.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
