In-depth probe in Munde death when NCP, allies form govt:Patil

A detailed probe will be carried out into the death of former Union minister Gopinath Munde after the NCP and allies will form the next government, the party's Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil said Thursday.

Patil's remark comes a few days after a "cyber expert" claimed senior BJP leader Munde was "killed" as the latter was aware of alleged hacking of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP-led NDA had won the polls.

The cyber expert, identified as Syed Shuja who is seeking political asylum in the US, had last Monday claimed the 2014 polls were "rigged" through the EVMs, which he had said, could be hacked.

The Election Commission of India had denied the charge and asked the Delhi Police to lodge an FIR against the self- proclaimed cyber expert.

Shuja did not provide any proof to back his claims made at a press conference in London he addressed via Skype.

Munde died in a road accident in New Delhi in 2014, a week after taking over as Rural Development Minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet.

"The responsibility of tracing who is responsible for Munde's death is on us. How he was killed has to be probed.

"Hence, a detailed probe will be carried out when our government is formed in the near future," Patil said at a rally in Vasmat in Hingoli district.

The rally was organised as part of the third leg of the NCP's 'Parivartan Yatra', a public outreach programme the party has undertaken ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Patil said "it did not augur well" if a leader like Munde died allegedly in connection with an EVM-related matter.

The former Maharashtra minister also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the issues of farm loan waiver and Dhangar quota, respectively.

"Both of them (Modi and Fadnavis) have forgotten (to keep promises made on the issues). Hence, there is no trust left in them," he added.

He hailed NCP chief Sharad Pawar for giving "historic farm loan waiver" to farmers (in 2009) when the latter was the Union Agriculture Minister.

"But this government has not given a single penny," Patil alleged.

Another NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal also addressed the rally and attacked the Shiv Sena for continuing to be part of the governments at the Centre and in the state despite the Uddhav Thackeray-led party's constant criticism of the BJP-led regimes.