India, July 11 -- Maharashtra minister Sanjay Shirsat has broken his silence after a purported video of him smoking in a hotel room with what is being claimed to be a bag stuffed with cash lying around surfaced online, calling it a "well-thought-out conspiracy" to malign his reputation.

"This is a well-thought-out conspiracy. I am sitting comfortably in my house, and my dog is sitting as well. Someone has recorded a video of this, which suggests they were spying on us. We are such people that anyone who visits our home eats food and drinks tea. It is our responsibility to supervise the workers. There might be an agent among them, but we do not worry about it, nor have we ever seen anything suspicious," ANI news agency posted a video of S...