Don’t record politicians’ visits, Maharashtra cops told

All police stations in Maharashtra have been ordered by authorities not to make records of phone calls or document “unofficial” visits of politicians, a move that came against the backdrop of Supreme Court reprimand for Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

All police stations in Maharashtra have been ordered by authorities not to make records of phone calls or document “unofficial” visits of politicians, a move that came against the backdrop of Supreme Court reprimand for Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

HT Image

The direction by Maharashtra police headquarters, loaded in favour of politicians with a penchant for interfering in the course of law, came amid a controversy over the former chief minister using his office to influence a police case to protect another politician.

A circular in this regard was issued on November 18, 2010, following an assurance by the then Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil in the Legislative Council in 2007 but became public only this week.Patil, following complaints from legislators about the mention of their names in police diaries after they made phone calls or unofficial visits to the police station, had assured them that he would look into the matter.

Though the circular, signed by Special IGP Gulabrao Pol, does not specifically mention politicians, it refers to the assurance made by Patil.

The circular was issued about a month before the SC rapped Deshmukh and penalised the state R 10 lakh for trying to protect Congress legislator Dilip Sananda's father Gokulchand Sananda from arrest in a money-lending case in 2006 in Vidarbha where farmers were hit by drought.