On September 27, when Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray learned that the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) had summoned two of his top officials- Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte and acting DGP (Director General of Police) Sanjay Pandey in a case. Case registered against former home minister Anil Deshmukh, sources say, Thackeray’s reaction was, “Give him a befitting reply.” The answer came in two parts. At first, Kunte and Pandey refused to honor three summonses, asking them to appear on 29 September, 2 October and 11 October, apparently because it deviated from the protocol in which the questioner was under questioning. Senior officers are interrogated in their respective offices. He asked the CBI to send its investigators to their offices instead; The central agency opted to email his questions to him.
The second part came to the fore on September 29, when the Maharashtra government revived a defunct case involving CBI Director Subodh Jaiswal’s investigation into the 2003 fake stamp-paper scam. Jaiswal, who headed the Special Investigation Team that probed the case in 1997, was reprimanded by a Pune court for conducting a “shoddy investigation”. In 2007, Jaiswal had approached the Bombay High Court to clear his record, but the matter went cold. On 29 September, the Maharashtra government filed a motion asking the high court to expedite the hearing of Jaiswal’s plea. Whether it acquits Jaiswal or not, public repeats about the incident will affect his reputation.
These incidents are just one episode of the ongoing drama in India’s economic center, in which members of the political class and the police are being drawn together. Officers of Maharashtra’s IPS (Indian Police Service) have been turned into pawns in the raging political struggle since at least 2019 following a bitter split between the BJP and Shiv Sena. The cast of characters includes former state home minister Deshmukh (arrested on November 2 on charges of corruption and money laundering), former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh (after accusing Deshmukh of using Mumbai police to coerce the city’s businesses). ), and more recently, NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) officer Samir Wankhede, who came into limelight after his team arrested Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan on October 3 for alleged drug abuse.
Behind this hoax is the truth that Mumbai’s prosperous economy – from its real estate to its glamorous film industry – has provided a stash of black money that has fed corrupt politicians and their accomplices in the state police for decades. From time to time, this nexus comes to the fore in public, as happened in 2003, when senior police officers were arrested for allegedly shielding scamster Abdul Karim Telgi. In 2021, senior officers are once again in a race to corner each other, divide the police force, tarnish its reputation and demoralize. The consequences for the public are painfully visible—in the past eight months, the state has seen a surge in crime, with actual policing taking a backseat and top cops playing the political game.
collateral damage
The current crisis can be traced back to 2019, when the Shiv Sena broke its 25-year partnership with the BJP along with the Congress and the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government. The political fallout affected the state police as well, with tensions rising between officials belonging to senior leaders in various parties. Tensions spread publicly after the ‘Bombgate’ incident in February, when an SUV laden with explosives was found near Antilia, the multi-storey residence of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani in south Mumbai. The investigation revealed the involvement of an assistant police inspector Sachin Waaze, who is believed to be close to the army. Vaz was arrested on 9 March, dismissed from service on 11 May and charged on 7 September. The NIA (National Investigation Agency) has accused him of being part of a conspiracy to threaten Ambani and murder of Mansukh Hiran of Thane. based businessman who owned the SUV.
TeaHe spread quickly, engulfing more members of the state police force and uncovering other, unrelated crimes. The then Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, considered close to senior members of the state government, had written to Chief Minister Thackeray on March 20, accusing the then Home Minister Deshmukh of running an extortion racket. On October 27 and 30, two magistrate courts in Thane and Mumbai issued non-bailable warrants against Singh in other cases of extortion. In this period, four other senior IPS officers have also come under scrutiny for their alleged involvement in illegal/immoral practices (see Police vs. Police). The Bombgate incident alone has put several officials in the dock – apart from Waaze, four others, including ‘encounter expert’ Pradeep Sharma, have been jailed for their alleged role in the conspiracy.
At the heart of all this is the fight for control of the Mumbai Police. With 55,000 personnel, it was once considered the best police force in India, praised for its investigation and maintenance of law and order. The position of Mumbai Police Commissioner was considered highly coveted among IPS officers, as it conferred authority on Mumbai’s 16 million residents, making it one of the most powerful officers in the country.
Former DGP AN Roy says that the crisis in Maharashtra Police is the result of politicization of the force. He points out that many senior appointments have been made in violation of rules, sending the message that political patronage is more important for career advancement than law-abiding. “Officer” [have been caught] In [political] Crossfire, but a lot of it is their own making,” he says. “The great thing is that [this] Not good for the state. No one is thinking about the security of the state.” He says the only way to prevent rot is to strictly follow the rules. “The Supreme Court has laid down the rules for the appointment of officers,” he explains. “Just follow them. Most problems will be solved.”
At the heart of it all is the fight for control of the Mumbai Police. With 55,000 personnel, it was once the best police force in India. The post of Mumbai Police Commissioner was a coveted post, as it conferred existing authority on over 16 million Mumbaikars.
Roy rules pertain to the appointment of DGP and Police Commissioner. The Supreme Court had ruled that only those officers who have rendered 30 years of uninterrupted service and held the rank of Inspector General should be considered for the post of DGP. The current acting DGP, Sanjay Pandey, is not qualified – he had left the force and joined a private firm for a year. Despite his clean record, it means he should not be allowed to remain in this position. Another example is Hemant Nagrale, who was appointed Mumbai Police Commissioner this year despite being accused of domestic violence. Other examples include Jaiswal, who was made commissioner of police in 2017 despite being out of the force for a decade and a half to serve in the Research and Analysis Wing, and DD Padsalgikar, who was brought in from the Intelligence Bureau to serve earlier. . As Police Commissioner of Mumbai and then as DGP of Maharashtra.
A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that politicization of appointments and violation of service rules have led to demoralization of senior officers. He cites the example of VV Lakshmi Narayan, an officer who was part of the 2G scam investigation in 2013 and retired after being overlooked for the post of Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime). Narayan also investigated corruption cases related to Jagan Mohan Reddy (now Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) when he was with the CBI. “He was a natural contender for the crime branch,” the officer says. ,[This is a major] Example of politicization of police force.
perpetual crisis
One of the key players in the current crisis is 1988-batch IPS officer Param Bir Singh, who is now the Director General of Maharashtra Home Guards. Singh has been missing since May, when he sought leave on medical grounds. Two non-bailable warrants have been issued against him, one by a Thane court and the other by a Mumbai court. Ironically, both are related to extortion cases – they have been accused of demanding Rs 1.25 crore and Rs 11.92 lakh from builders Bimal Agarwal and Ketan Jani in two separate cases.
Another central character is 1988 batch IPS officer Rashmi Shukla, Additional Director General of CRPF (Central Police Reserve Force) posted in Hyderabad. The state government believes that it was behind the leak of a confidential report related to the cash-for-posting racket, in which state politicians were accepting/accepting bribes for Plum IPS postings. Deshmukh had ordered an inquiry into the data leak case in September. Troubled by bad press as a result of the Deshmukh episode, the state government in March filed an FIR (First Information Report) against unknown persons for leaking confidential information.
CM Thackeray with Anil Deshmukh and Param Bir Singh at a function in memory of 26/11 martyrs in November 2020 (Photo by Mandar Deodhar)
Though he is not named in the FIR, sources say Shukla is the prime suspect—as the then head of the Maharashtra State Intelligence Department (SID), he had supervised the tapping of several phone calls by politicians and their associates in interest . of national security. In these conversations, the cash racket was exposed in lieu of posting, after which Shukla sent a confidential report of the case to the then Home Secretary Sitaram Kunte. While the state believes that it leaked the report to Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, Shukla’s lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani told the Bombay High Court on October 30 that it was NCP ministers Nawab Malik and Jitendra Awhad who leaked the report. Had it.
Mumbai Police is also probing 2008 batch IRS (Indian Revenue Service) officer Wankhede, who is currently the Mumbai Regional Director of NCB. On 14 October, Prabhakar Cell, the bodyguard of Kiran Gosavi, a witness in the Aryan Khan case, claimed that he had heard his boss tell mediator Sam D’Souza that Rs 8 crore was to be paid to Wankhede.
Gosavi had allegedly arranged bribes from Shahrukh’s assistant Pooja Dadlani to dilute the case against Aryan. However, on November 2, D’Souza told a Marathi news channel, accusing Gosavi of lying, “I gave Rs 50 lakh to Gosavi on behalf of Dadlani, who pretended to be in touch with Wankhede. Later, when I realized that he was lying, I returned the money to him.
A day earlier, Thackeray was in his normal nature while interacting with reporters at his official residence. However, his mood turned gloomy when someone asked him about the rift with the central government. “Leave it. Why do we talk about these things on Diwali?” He said. He may have avoided the question at this point, but there is no doubt that it will trouble him sooner or later.
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