Ex-Mumbai CP’s claims serious, must be probed, says NCP chief Sharad
With the “letter bomb” dropped by Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh having tuned into the first-ever major political crisis for the 16-month-old MVA Government in Maharashtra, the ruling Shiv Sena on Sunday appeared to be depending heavily on NCP president Sharad Pawar to resolve the explosive situation arising out of Singh’s allegation that State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked arrested police officer Sachin Vaze to collect `100 crore every month from restaurants, bar and other sources in the metropolis.
Terming the allegations made by the former police chief as “very serious” and indicating that the NCP would take a call on Deshmukh’s resignation in a day or two, Pawar — who is considered the architect of the MVA Government — talked with the leaders of three constituting parties at his New Delhi residence in the evening to tide over the crisis.
While NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Praful Patel and Surpriya Sule were present at the meeting, Sanjay Raut is representing the Shiv Sena. Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath is attending the meeting on behalf of his party.
Deshmukh is not needed to put in his paper, NCP leader and Minister Jayant Patil told the media after the meeting at Pawar’s residence in Delhi.
Pawar will meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Monday to discuss the way out.
Earlier in the day, talking to media persons in Delhi, Pawar said, “Singh has made serious allegations against Deshmukh. But he has not given substantial proof to back his allegation. I have to talk to our Home Minister to listen to his side of the story. I would like Chief Minister Thackeray to order a thorough probe into the former Police Commissioner’s allegations against the Home Minister.
“Prior to this Press conference, I spoke to the Chief Minister. We will take a decision on Deshmukh after consulting all stakeholders in the Government. The Chief Minister has all the powers to take a decision in this regard. He can take a decision after holding a proper enquiry into allegations against Deshmukh.”
Alluding to Singh’s claim that he had briefed the NCP chief and other party Ministers about the “several misdeeds and malpractices” being indulged in by the Home Minister, Pawar said, “Singh had met him. He spoke about his transfer. He also spoke to me about the interference in the functioning of his department. Beyond this, he did not tell me anything else.”
On the issue of reinstatement of Vaze in June last year, Pawar said, “The power to reinstate Vaze was very much with the Police Commissioner (Singh) himself.”
“In his letter, Singh has alleged that the Home Minister had told Vaze that he had a target to accumulate Rs 100 crore a month. But he has not said as to how the money was supposed to be collected and who the money will be given to,” he said.
Alleging that an attempt is being made to ‘destabilise’ the MVA by the BJP, Pawar suspected the role of former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis behind the ‘letter bomb’ drama that unfolded on Saturday morning.
Pawar wanted to know, ‘How come the letter surfaced in the media after Fadnavis reached New Delhi. The Chief Minister should appoint an officer with an unimpeachable reputation to investigate Singh’s allegation. An attempt is being made to destabilise the MVA Government. But, the MVA Government is stable. The current developments will not have any bearing on the stability of our Government.’
Later, in a series of tweets put out by his official handle, Pawar said, ‘An in depth enquiry should be conducted by an officer or an individual who enjoys utmost respect of the police administration and the public at large.’
‘My suggestion to the @CMOMaharashtra is that Julio Francis Ribeiro, former Police Chief of Maharashtra and former CP of Mumbai, should be assigned this responsibility,’ Pawar tweeted.
‘He has a great reputation and if he accepts this responsibility then the truth will definitely come to the fore and the public at large will start believing more in the Police and in the government in particular,’ Pawar added.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Congress-one of the constituents in the MVA Government -asked its partners Shiv Sena-NCP not to ‘buckle’ under the pressure brought to bear in on them to destabilise the State Government.
Congress state general secretary & spokesperson Sachin Sawant said since the last over six years, the BJP-led Centre has been making attempts to undermine all Opposition parties’ Governments in different states.
‘Administrative officers under the jurisdiction of the State are being pressured with the help of the Central investigation agencies and there are many examples like Vinod Rai before the country,’ Sawant said.
‘This is nothing new… An ex-DIG of Gujarat Police DG Vanzara had leveled serious allegations against the then Gujarat HM and current Home Minister of India Amit Shah. Did Shah resign then? Later Vanzara was given an extension by the (Gujarat) regime… Does it mean that Vanzara’s allegations were true,’ Sawant asked.
Similarly, another Gujarat police officer Sanjeev Bhatt had leveled serious allegations against the then CM Narendra Modi – now the Prime Minister, ‘but did CM Modi resigned at that time,’ Sawant asked.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis alleged that there was large-scale corruption into transfer of police personnel in Maharashtra during the regime of MVA Government. He said in the past the instances of corruption had been pointed out to CM Thackeray.
‘Singh’s letter is not the first such letter… There is massive corruption in police transfers…there are brokers around….money is being exchanged,’ Fadnavis said.
Rejecting Pawar’s contention that neither Thackeray nor Desmukh was involved in the reinstatement of Vaze and was done at the level of the then Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police, Fadnavis said the then Director General of Police Subodh Jaiswal had sent a report to the CM through the then Commissioner of State Intelligence Department Rashmi Shukla and he forwarded the report to Deshmukh.
Both Jaiswal and Shukla had thereafter moved to the Centre. While Jaiswal is the Director General of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Shukla is Additional Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). ‘Subodh Jiaswal left for Central assignment,’ the former CM said
Questioning the silence of the CM and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Singh’s letter, Fadnavis reiterated that Deshmukh be removed as the State Home Minister pending an enquiry against him. ‘A proper enquiry is not possible if he remains in office. He (Deshmukh) must immediately resign or be removed as there can be no probe by the NIA or other central agency…but you may not have faith in it so there could be a court-monitored probe,’ he said.
Monday, 22 March 2021 | TN Raghunatha | Mumbai
