Opposition parties in Maharashtra on Thursday accused Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of misusing his power after a purported video of him telling an Indian Police Service officer to stop her action against alleged illegal soil excavation was widely shared online.

However, Pawar claimed on Friday that his intention was not to interfere with law enforcement but to ensure that the situation “did not escalate further”.

In the video, Anjana Krishna, the deputy superintendent of police in Solapur’s Karmala, can be seen on a phone call with Pawar.

The phone through which she was speaking belonged to a Nationalist Congress Party member, reported The Indian Express.

Pawar could be heard in the video telling Krishna to stop the action against illegal excavation of murrum, used as a sub-base and filling material for road construction.

The police officer was heard saying that she could not ascertain if she was speaking to the deputy chief minister, and asking if the person on the other end could call her on her number.

“Just a minute. I will take action against you,” Pawar could purportedly be heard saying. “I myself am talking to you and you are asking me to call you directly. You want to see me, take my number and make a WhatsApp call.”

After the video was shared online, Pawar maintained that he has the “highest respect” for police officers. “I remain firmly committed to transparent governance and to ensuring that every illegal activity, including sand mining, is dealt with strictly as per the law,” he said on X.

Nationalist Congress Party state president Sunil Tatkare said on Thursday that Pawar “may have rebuked the IPS officer to placate party workers”, reported The Indian Express.

“Ajit Pawar is known for his straight talk and never supports any illegal activity,” Tatkare was quoted as saying. “He perhaps meant to stop the action briefly just to defuse the situation.”

On the other hand, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil, under whose constituency the village where the purported incident took place falls, told The Times of India that he had found after the video surfaced that residents had complained to the police officer about the sand mining.

“A local NCP member at the spot called up Ajit Pawar and made the officer speak to him, after which the action halted,” Patil was quoted as saying.

Vijay Kumbhar, vice president of the Aam Aadmi Party in Maharashtra, said that the police officer was being threatened while taking action against wrongdoers.

“This is misuse of power,” he said. “Is this the reason the ministers want officers of their choice in particular cities and talukas?”