An audio clip has surfaced on social media, in which Maharashtra BJP MLA Babanrao Lonikar is purportedly heard threatening an MSEDCL official with Income Tax raids for allegedly disconnecting the power supply of his residence located in Aurangabad.
The alleged foul language used by the BJP leader prompted state Energy Minister Nitin Raut to ask authorities to lodge a complaint against him.
However, Lonikar, a former Maharashtra minister, issued a denial claiming that the audio clip was fake and there was an attempt to tarnish his image through it.
In the audio clip of the purported phone conservation, Lonikar, who currently represents the Partur Assembly constituency in Jalna district of the state, is heard asking the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) engineer that the power supply of his bungalow in Aurangabad was snapped and the meter box was taken away although he has paid Rs 10 lakh outstanding bill amount this year.
During the conversation, Lonikar also asked why the MSEDCL officials do not cut the electricity supply in slum areas, where people steal power by putting hooks on the overhead transmission lines. The BJP leader can also be heard abusing the officer and threatening that Income Tax raids would be conducted at his premises.
As the audio clip went viral, Lonikar told reporters that he neither called any MSEDCL official, nor abused and threatened him.
"The audio clip is fake and it has been created with the aim of tarnishing my image. I have one residence in Aurangabad, but the MSEDCL did not disconnect its power supply and its meter was not seized, hence there is no question of me threatening any official. This is a bogus recording and it is a conspiracy to defame me," he claimed.
He, however, said that he was opposed to the MSEDCL's drive of the recovery of outstanding power bills from the poor and farmers.
"The MSEDCL officials are doing it under the pressure of the government. They should stop of the recovery bills from the poor and farmers," he said.
Meanwhile, minister Nitin Raut ordered his department officials to lodge a police complaint against Lonikar for allegedly using foul language against the MSEDCL official.
"The language of former state minister and BJP MLA Babanrao Lonikar is completely unacceptable. I have asked the assistant managing director of MSEDCL to get all the details regarding the incident and lodge a police complaint against him," Raut said.
"The kind of language he used while talking to the official is shocking. He has been in public life for 30 years and has been state cabinet minister. His behaviour has exposed the party (BJP) that claims to be civilised," Raut, a Congress leader, said.
"Lonikar's claim of paying Rs 10 lakh arrears is misleading. The dues of his both the houses are still as high as Rs four lakh. He has not even paid the bill for more than a year," he said.
On being contacted, MSEDCL's joint managing director in Aurangabad, Mangesh Gondavale, told PTI, "All the consumers are expected to pay their bills...I have sought the details of this matter (Lonikar's conservation). I will examine it and accordingly we shall act on it."
