THE “LETTER BOMB” by Mumbai Police Commissioner, Param Bir Singh, days after he was shown the door, alleging that state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh used to call Sachin Waze and other cops to his official residence and give them a ‘target’ of Rs100 crore per month, has created a crisis of credibility for the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress Government in Maharashtra. The letter had alleged that the State Home Minister had asked cops to collect this money from bars, restaurants and other establishments.
The murky developments in Maharashtra began with the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence on February 25. Hearing the plea filed by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, the Supreme Court directed him to approach the Bombay High Court under Article 226 to seek a CBI probe observing that the matter is ‘quite serious’ and affects the administration at large.
The National Investigation Agency is already investigating this case after 20 loose gelatin sticks were found in the abandoned SUV.
The conduct of the former Police Chief is also not beyond suspicion as he raised voice only after he was shunted out of the post.
Why was controversial assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, who had been suspended earlier in an alleged custodial death case, suddenly reinstated and given an important post?
Why are collision partners not speaking up in such a serious matter?
In the meanwhile Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamna in an editorial has alleged that the BJP was using former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh to topple the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi regime in Maharashtra warning that any attempt to bring down the MVA government would trigger “fire”.
It has alleged that decks were being cleared for the President’s rule by creating an impression that the law and order machinery had failed in the state. New pawns are being created and a former Police chief is being used in an attempt to bring down the duly elected government of Uddhav Thackeray. Saamna editorial alleged that there could be a link between Singh’s letter bomb and the game plan to destabilize the State government.
It chided the former police chief for leveling allegations against the home minister and posting these to the media because these are “not within the rules” for a police official to put the government in the dock.
Ironically, the same Thackeray government had praised the former Police Chief as a hands-on officer who had dexterously handled the Sushant Singh Rajput case and the Kangana Ranaut row fairly well. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, T.S.Eliot had once rightly said, “Unreal friendship may turn to real but real friendship, once ended, cannot be mended”. It is time for the government to address the nexus of politics, police and crime.
