Jarange's Rs 500 crore audio clip row: Mumbai Police forms SIT, Raut seeks ED probe, Shindes deny any payment

Jarange denies that he has taken any money. He says that a plot was hatched against him because he raises the issues of farmers and ordinary citizens, and he alleges that party funds were used to defame him and the agitation. He has asked Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde to get to the root of the matter. Eknath Shinde and Shrikant Shinde deny that any money was routed to Jarange through them.

Raut's demand and the BJP's reply

Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena (UBT) member of Parliament, wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah asking that the Enforcement Directorate investigate the matter. He called it a likely case of money laundering and asked where the money came from and whether it reached Jarange. He urged that those involved be arrested, and said that the questions needed to be answered at once.

The BJP has turned the allegation around. A spokesperson of the party claimed that Raut had created the clip using artificial intelligence tools in order to advance the agenda of Rahul Gandhi and cause a rift among the ruling allies. Raut countered that a BJP member of the Legislative Council had leaked the clip, which, he said, reflected cut-throat competition within the party. Neither claim has been verified. No test of the recording has been reported, and it is not clear who the speakers are.

The Mumbai Police has not published the composition of the team or a timeline. Its first task is likely to be the authentication of the recording. Forensic examiners can look at whether an audio file has been edited or generated, and whether the voices match those of the persons named. The team will also look at who first had the file and how it reached the public, and at whether any money moved. If the recording is found to be fake, the inquiry will turn to the people who made and circulated it. If it is found to be genuine, the questions will be about who spoke and what they meant.

The case follows the political background of the Maratha reservation movement, in which Jarange has been a leading figure. Headlines in recent days have mentioned that he ended a 20-day fast and gave the government a three-month ultimatum on the quota demand, though those events are not detailed in the reports on the audio clip.

A payment of Rs 500 crore to a protest leader, if it was real, would be one of the largest alleged transactions in Maharashtra's recent politics, and the claim that it came from a party to weaken a social movement is serious. Because the claim is made by a person who says he is the victim, and the alleged payer denies it, the burden is on the investigators to find evidence either way.

For the government, the formation of an SIT is a way to show that it is taking the charge seriously without conceding anything. For the opposition, the demand for the ED is a pointed one, since the agency has been accused of acting mostly against opposition leaders. Raut was himself arrested in a money laundering case in 2022, which he has called false.

The test will be whether the SIT reports quickly and publishes its findings. Until it does, the row is a clash of claims, and the audience for it is the large community of Maratha voters, who are watching how both the government and the activist handle the matter.