Mumbai, May 25: BJP leader and medical education minister in Maharashtra Girish Mahajan and 10 other police officers ignited a controversy after they attended the wedding reception of gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s niece in Nashik on May 19. While Girish Mahajan Mahajan is the minister for water conservation and medical education, one of the police officers, who attended the wedding, is an assistant police commissioner. The other nine police officers reportedly are those at the inspector level. Along with Mahajan, the other known people who attended the wedding reception include BJP legislators Devyani Farande, Balasaheb Sanap and Seeema Hiray, Nashik mayor Ranjana Bhanasi and deputy mayor Prathamesh Gite (both of the BJP) and a section of local municipal councillors. Also Read - AirAsia Announces Flights on Mumbai-Guwahati, Mumbai-Srinagar Routes From Tomorrow | All You Need to Know

The ten police officers under scrutiny are assistant police commissioner Sachin Gore and inspectors Madhukar Kad, Somnath Tambe, Sanjay Deshmukh, Samsherkhan Pathan, Manoj Shinde, Hanumant Ware, Kantilal Chavan, Vinod Kedar and Vijay Londhe. Also Read - War on 'Love Jihad'? Yogi Govt Likely to Bring Ordinance To Restrict Religious Conversion in UP

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis has asked the Nashik police chief to submit a report on this. “I have already told Nashik police commissioner to send a report on the matter,” Fadnavis told Hindustan Times. According to the reports, Nashik city police commissioner Ravinder Singal has ordered a probe against nine Nashik police officers for attending the wedding of a relative of Dawood Ibrahim. Also Read - Smart City Index 2020: Indian Cities Drop in Global Smart City Index; Singapore On Top

“Our information is that Dawood’s wife and the bride’s mother are sisters,” said Ravinder Singal, reported the Times of India. “No cases have been registered against the bride’s family, nor is there a previous history. However, we are inquiring into the presence of senior police officials at the marriage. It’s not an investigation, it’s an inquiry,” he added.

Mahajan told a leading newspaper that he did attend the wedding but he wasn’t aware that the bride was linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. I attended the marriage on the invitation of Khateeb, the most respected religious leader of the Muslim community. Khateeb has been one of the pillars of social activities undertaken by the medical education department in the Nashik region. He had taken

Mahajan told a leading newspaper that he did attend the wedding but he wasn’t aware that the bride was linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. I attended the marriage on the invitation of Khateeb, the most respected religious leader of the Muslim community. Khateeb has been one of the pillars of social activities undertaken by the medical education department in the Nashik region. He had taken keen interest in a medical camp organised by the department in Nashik and Nandurbar and also in last year’s Kumbh mela,” Mahajan said.

Mahajan also claimed that it was a day after when he was informed that the bride was a relative of Dawood. “I am guardian minister of Nashik. I receive many invitations, but it is not possible to check the antecedents of people. In the present case, I attended the marriage since I personally knew Khateeb. I was accompanied by our party legislators and the mayor and deputy mayor of Nashik,” Mahajan said.