BJP MLA Prasad Lad claims Sanjay Raut had audio clip made at Saamana studio, seeks police questioning

An audio clip from inside the BJP has stirred Maharashtra politics for the past few days. BJP MLA Prasad Lad claims the clip was prepared by Sanjay Raut himself. According to him, the fake clip was made in the studio at the office of the daily Saamana. Lad has therefore demanded that the police pick up Raut and question him. He also said the matter should be investigated by visiting the Saamana studio. The Thackeray camp is now believed likely to turn aggressive over this.

Lad said the police SIT should also look into who is working to create a rift between the Shiv Sena and the BJP. He said a case should first be registered against Raut and he should be picked up. Raut, he said, has never denied the claim about Rs 500 crore in the clip. That will be investigated, and the clip will be sent for a forensic test. But according to Lad, Raut is the maker of the clip.

Raut had said that a BJP Legislative Council member gave the clip to Manoj Jarange. Lad said such allegations make no difference to him. He believes people should be patient until the investigation is complete. Even so, he said, Raut's statements have exposed a conspiracy to create a rift between the BJP and the Shiv Sena.

Lad made it clear that there would be no dispute between them. He said he respects Eknath Shinde. What is said in the clip is wrong, he said, but Raut is the one behind all of it. He asked where all this was done, whether it was done in the Saamana studio, and who gave the clip to Manoj Jarange. All of this should be investigated, he said. Lad again said the police should summon Raut for questioning.

Lad also said Raut knows what happens when an investigation takes place, and that he would have to spend 100 days inside. He claimed Raut himself made the clip. He said Raut wrote the whole outline and script, and the voice-over was then done using AI.

Raut, for his part, had said the key question is who leaked the tape. According to him, the BJP Legislative Council member leaked the audio tape. Raut had said that this member stayed with Manoj Jarange Patil during his fast to hold discussions with him. Raut had also said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis knows who this member is. He had further claimed that the people speaking in the clip are the core team of the BJP and Devendra Fadnavis.