Video ‘showing Sena minister with cash bag’ stirs Maharashtra row

MUMBAI : Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday posted a video on X purportedly showing the state’s social justice minister Sanjay Shirsat of the Shiv Sena sitting in a room along with a partially opened bag containing what look like bundles of currency notes. Shirsat, however, rubbished the claim, saying the bag only contained clothes.

The allegation came a day after it emerged that Shirsat had received a notice from the income tax department seeking an explanation for increase in his financial worth between the 2019 and 2024 assembly elections from Rs 3.3 crore to Rs 35 crore. Last month, Shirsat and his son withdrew from a hotel deal after an opposition outcry.

Raut said in his post that Union home minister Amit Shah should take note. “I feel pity for CM Devendra Fadnavis! How many more times will he just sit and watch his reputation being torn to shreds? Helplessness has another name: Fadnavis!” Shirsat said in response, “The house seen in the video is my home. It shows I am sitting (clad in a vest) in my bedroom. My pet dog and a bag are also seen. This means I have just returned from travel and removed my clothes. If I have to keep such a big bag of money, is there a dearth of cupboards?” Criticizing the opposition for raking up the issue “deliberately,” Shirsat said, “They see (currency) notes even in cloth bags.” He added, “Had there been money, I would have kept it in the cupboard.”

Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said sarcastically that Mahayuti legislators were showing disregard for the rule framed by Modi govt that a person should not handle cash beyond Rs 2 lakh on a given day. Raut and Thackeray expressed their apprehensions about whether action would be taken against Shirsat and Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad (who assaulted MLA hostel canteen staffers) when their videos, they said, were “good enough to prove their crime.”

Shirsat said, “Such claims won’t affect my (political) career.” Shirsat had told the media on Thursday he had sought more time to reply to the I-T department’s notice asking for an explanation for the increase in his financial worth. However, he had to backtrack on his remark that Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde had received a similar notice and later clarified that he had no knowledge of Shrikant Shinde receiving any I-T notice.

Shirsat, an MLA from Sambhajinagar West, had declared Rs 44.8 crore in cash and liabilities of Rs 26.5 crore in loans from multiple banks in his election affidavit in Oct 2024. His declared holdings included agricultural land valued at Rs 4.4 crore and flats in Mumbai and Sambhajinagar collectively worth Rs 4.7 crore.

Shirsat has been the target of AIMIM’s former Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel and leader of opposition inthe legislative council Ambadas Danve over the assets issue.