No police record of Sena threat to Raj: Patil

MUMBAI: The sibling feud in the Thackeray family on Friday took a new twist with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil dismissing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's allegations that police had warned him of a Shiv Sena conspiracy to attack him in 2005.
    
Raj, 40-year-old nephew of Sena chief Bal Thackeray, had recently levelled allegations that a conspiracy was hatched to eliminate him during the Malwan by-election.
    
Patil, who holds the Home portfolio, said there was no police record of any such threat to Raj. He also denied having personally informed Raj about any Sena "conspiracy" to attack him.
    
Thackeray had described Raj's allegations as 'unfortunate', saying such an offspring had not been born in the Thackeray family.
    
While addressing a public meeting at Thane on October 29, Raj had alleged that a plan was hatched to eliminate him during the Malwan by-election held in 2005 and that was thereason he had kept himself away from the pre-poll campaigning despite being in Shiv Sena.
    
Malwan by-election was necessitated following the exit of Narayan Rane from Shiv Sena.
    
Raj also later parted ways with the Sena following differences with cousin Uddhav Thackeray and formed MNS last year. Raj had said that the then SP of Sindhudurg district where Malwan is located, had warned him of the danger to his life, which prompted him to return to Mumbai.