Mumbai, July 19 As outrage continued over scum videos purportedly featuring a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ex-MP Kirit Somaiya, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday launched its probe into the antecedents of the clips.
Official sources said that the Crime Branch Unit X is leading the probe with the help of the technical experts and cyber specialists, and Somaiya is likely to be called to join the investigations later.
The teams are expected to scour the sleaze video footage, reportedly running into around 8 hours, some of which was aired by a private TV channel and leading to a massive uproar in political circles and the public in the past two days.
Taking serious cognizance, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assured a probe while the Deputy CM and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis directed the Mumbai Police to conduct a high-level investigation to verify the authenticity of the videos.
Simultaneously, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women on Wednesday wrote to the Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar, seeking a detailed probe into the incident and its report on priority.
After the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) raised the issue in the legislature, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Ambadas Danve submitted a pen-drive of the 8-hour video to the Deputy Chairperson, Neelam Gorhe.
Responding, Gorhe has urged the women victims to "have faith in the legislature" and come forward with their complaints for the probe to be meaningful.
Earlier on Tuesday, Somaiya claimed he had not exploited any woman as alleged, and wrote letters to Fadnavis and Phansalkar demanding a thorough probe to verify the authenticity of the alleged videos in which he reportedly is seen in compromising positions.
When asked about the video-gate, Shiv Sena (UBT) President and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray flatly said that he would not watch such sleaze, but "the women of the state have given their appropriate response" to the scam that has blown up on the BJP.
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