After grilling Suraj Chavan, a close aide of Aaditya Thackeray in the alleged khichdi scam, the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has grilled Punyashali Parekh, a friend of the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA, in connection with the Remdesivir injections scam, which is worth Rs 5.96 crore. 

According to EOW sources, Parekh, a chartered accountant, was part of the meeting held at the bungalow of then-mayor Kishori Pednekar in June 2020 along with some BMC officials. During the meeting, it was decided who should and shouldn’t get contracts, and Parekh had allegedly exerted influence because of his close links with Thackeray. However, no direct evidence has surfaced so far in the Khichdi or Remdesivir injections scam cases that contracts were given based on the instructions of Thackeray. “We are questioning the people associated with the case, including civic officials. If any political links are uncovered, we will look into them,” a senior EOW official said.