Acting Maharashtra DGP begins probe against ex-Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh

Acting DGP Sanjay Pandey is expected to submit a report in a few weeks after examining if Singh kept the government in the dark about the outcome of the initial investigation along with whether the allegations levelled by him against former home minister Anil Deshmukh have substance, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

The Maharashtra government appointed Sanjay Pandey, director general of the state security corporation, as the acting police chief through an order issued late Friday night and assigned him the probe against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh to contain the fallout of extortion allegations that have roiled the ruling coalition.

Based on a report by Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale, the home department initiated a departmental enquiry (DE) against Singh. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Based on a report by Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale, the home department initiated a departmental enquiry (DE) against Singh. Acting DGP Pandey is expected to submit a report in a few weeks after examining if Singh kept the government in the dark about the outcome of the initial investigation along with whether the allegations levelled by him against former home minister Anil Deshmukh have substance, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday. Under the direction of the Bombay high court, the Central Bureau of Investigation is also conducting a preliminary enquiry into the latter.

“Pandey is an upright officer with high integrity. Though he was sidelined by subsequent governments for various reasons, the decision to appoint him as acting DGP is a strategic move. He is expected to play a key role in repairing the mess in the police force and take action against ‘errant’ officials,” said a home department official who did not wish to be named.

The probe was ordered through a letter issued by the home department on April 1 stating that the DE was being ordered under provisions of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules. Singh, soon after he was shunted out of the top post, wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20 and alleged that the then home minister Deshmukh forced crime branch officers to extort ₹100 crore a month from bars, restaurants and hookah parlours.

The report by Nagrale said suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, prime accused in the Antilia explosives scare, was reporting directly to Singh. The report said Vaze’s appointment in the crime intelligence unit was on the insistence of Singh despite being strongly opposed by the then joint police commissioner (crime).

“The probe will throw light on whether Singh failed in his duty to control Vaze and whether he had any role in Vaze’s actions. It will also be conducted to find out if Singh failed to apprise the government of the facts related to the Antilia case, on which leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis seemed to have more information than the home department,” said an official from Mantralaya, the seat of administration in the state.

The probe will examine if the letter written by Singh was leaked to the media by him.

“It was his responsibility to ensure that the issue was raised through the right channel and it should not have leaked out. He has also moved courts against the state government demanding a probe by central agencies. This has led to denting the image of the state government and the probe will also look into it,” said the officer cited above.

The government appointed 1986-batch IPS officer Pandey as he was the most senior among the director generals, altering an earlier decision to name Rajnish Seth (1988 batch) as acting DGP after the then incumbent Hemant Nagrale was picked as Mumbai police commissioner on March 17.

Pandey wrote a four-page letter to Thackeray last month after he was denied the appointment, complaining of injustice.

“You overlooked me for the post of DG Anti Corruption Bureau which was given to a junior officer, despite the tradition of giving it to the senior-most officer. I was sidelined even when it came to the appointment to the post of Mumbai police commissioner. When Subodh Jaiswal chose to go on central deputation, the additional charge was not given to me, but again to a junior officer and it was illegal as per the SC ruling in the Prakash Singh case. A career built over several years is thus demolished just due to some personal prejudices,” that letter said.

He was ultimately picked as the government did not wish to muddy the waters further in the state’s premier law-enforcement agency, said officials in the know.