‘Used to be proud of Maharashtra Police’: Sharad Pawar red-flags a leak

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday questioned the role of Pune Police and senior officials in the Elgar Parishad case.

Pawar said he used to be proud of the Maharashtra Police but today’s situation is worrying. He also questioned how the central government got information about an internal meeting on setting up Special Investigation Team (SIT) held by the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and state home minister Anil Deshmukh.

The state government needs to take this seriously, he said, hinting that someone who attended the meeting leaked out the details to the Centre.

Pawar was speaking to reporters at YB Chavan Centre on Tuesday.

“I used to be proud of the Maharashtra Police as I handled the home department for almost 15-20 years. The way power was misused by the police is worrying. The role of Pune Police and a few senior police officials in Elgar Parishad case is in question. They have booked those who were not even present in that parishad,” Pawar said.

“The Supreme Court too has observed that an independent probe is needed to be conducted in the Elgar Parishad case. I am also demanding the same thing... if the state government wants to take legal opinion before forming the SIT then nothing wrong in it,” he added.

The NCP chief also wanted the government to find out how the details of the meeting held by the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and home minister Anil Deshmukh on Elgar Parishad probe reached the Centre. On January 25, the Centre issued notification on taking over the probe, hours after Pawar and Deshmukh held a meeting with police and home officers on forming the SIT.

“Ajit Pawar and Anil Deshmukh won’t have to inform the Union home ministry, then who has informed them? The state government needs to take this seriously,” he said.

Days after the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government came to power, the NCP chief had written a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Anil Deshmukh about constituting SIT in the case.

After the NCP chief’s letter, Ajit Pawar held a meeting with officials of the home department to review the case. The home department had also been considering appointing a SIT to probe the Elgar Parishad case.