India, Oct. 6 -- A phone call made by senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil to a police officer asking whether a popular dancer, Gautami Patil, had been arrested in connection with an accident has landed him in a controversy. An autorickshaw driver was seriously injured when Gautami's car collided with his autorickshaw in Pune. In a video, Patil, who is also an MLA from Pune, was seen asking the DCP why the dancer was not arrested.

After the video-apparently shot by someone in Patil's office-went viral, Patil drew flak from the opposition as well as the ruling parties, with some accusing him of staging it for publicity. Sharing the video on his X account, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar asked whether Patil would also make such calls regarding a...