Ambadas Danve Alleges Fake Papers Made in Names of Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis
On Tuesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Ambadas Danve alleged in the Maharashtra Legislative Council that fake documents, including caste certificates and ration cards, were prepared in the names of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The fraudulent documents, which listed Fadnavis as a resident of Rahul Nagar in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, were allegedly created to enroll them as beneficiaries in the Ramai Awas Yojana housing scheme.
Danve demanded a high-level inquiry and strict action against the officials and agents involved. He alleged that officials from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation, Pune Municipal Corporation, and the Social Justice Department colluded with agents to include ineligible people in the scheme using fake property tax receipts, handwritten beneficiary lists, and fake ration cards.
According to Danve, a fake ration card was prepared under the name "Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis," listing him as a resident of Rahul Nagar in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, which lies within the constituency of Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat. The fraudulent documents in Fadnavis's name also included a fake caste certificate and a fake property tax receipt showing pending dues of Rs 185.
Danve made similar allegations involving Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, claiming a fake ration card was prepared carrying the names of the deputy chief minister, his wife, son, MP Shrikant Shinde, daughter-in-law, and grandson. He added that a fake caste certificate was also issued in Shinde’s name.
The MLC further alleged that beneficiary lists were prepared manually rather than through the online system, and were approved without site inspections or proper verification by municipal officials and engineers. In some instances, both husbands and wives were approved for benefits, despite only one member per family being eligible. Danve also noted that the husband of a BJP corporator was listed as a beneficiary despite holding 33 bank accounts.
Danve noted that similar allegations had been raised previously, referring to earlier protests by former Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar MP Imtiaz Jaleel.
In response, Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat stated that no money has been released under the applications currently being examined. He explained that older applications received by the then Aurangabad Municipal Corporation between 2010-11 and 2022-23 had remained pending for years without any houses being built, with some later found ineligible or cancelled.
Shirsat stated that the government has since transitioned the scheme to an online application process. Following fresh applications invited in May 2025, the department received 8,442 applications. While all applicants were called for physical verification, only 2,913 appeared. After initial document scrutiny, 330 applications were selected for detailed examination, of which 221 applicants were found eligible.
