'Anil Deshmukh asked Sachin Waze to 'collect' Rs 100 crore per month'

In a sensational twist to the SUV case former Mumbai Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh on Saturday hit out at Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh by virtually alleging that the minister wanted his team member arrested cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore per month from bars and hookah parloursTaking strong umbrage at Deshmukhs remarks that Singhs transfer as CommandantGeneral of Maharashtra Home Guards was not for administrative purposes but for unpardonable lapses by his team the exMumbai top cop shot off an eightpage missive to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray saying he was made a scapegoat for extraneous and vindictive reasonsHitting back at Singh Deshmukh tweeted that the exMumbai police chief was leveling false allegations against him to save himself from action in the SUV case and the case related to the death of Mansukh HiranThe former Commissioner of Police Parambir Singh has made false allegations in order to save himself as the involvement of Sachin Waze in Mukesh Ambani amp Mansukh Hirens case is becoming clearer from the investigation carried out so far amp threads are leading to Mr Singh as well Deshmukh tweetedThe SUV case refers to the explosivesladen Scorpio that was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambanis residence in Mumbai last month Thanebased businessman Mansukh Hiran who was in possession of the Scorpio was found dead under mysterious circumstances on March 5But even as the latest revelations by Singh threatens to shake the foundation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government of Shiv SenaNationalist Congress PartyCongress top leaders remained incommunicadoMeanwhile the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party have slammed the MVA government terming Singhs contentions as extremely seriousIn the letter Singh has pointed out that his transfer was effected under Maharashtra Police Act 1951 Section 22N2 with the reason that it was necessitated by administration exigencies to ensure a free and fair probe in the Antilia SUV case incidentHowever he rued the fact that in a recent interview Deshmukh had stated that there were serious lapses committed at my office by the Mumbai Police and me in the investigation of the Antilia incident and my serious lapses are not pardonable and my transfer is not on administrative groundsSingh recalled how he had briefed Thackeray Deputy CM Ajit Pawar NCP President Sharad Pawar and other senior ministers about the misdeeds and malpractices indulged in by DeshmukhIn this context Singh said that Deshmukh had summoned Vaze at his official residence Dyaneshwari several times and had repeatedly asked him to assist in collecting funds for the ministerAccording to Singh at one such meeting in mid February the minister told Vaze that he had a target to collect Rs 100 crore per month and even advised that since there are 1750 bars eateries and other establishments in Mumbai if Rs 23 lakh was collected from each it could amount to around Rs 4050 crore while the balance could be achieved from other sourcesEven as Vaze came and informed him about the matter Singh said that ACP Sanjay Patil of Social Service Branch and DCP Enforcement Raju Bhujbal were also called by Deshmukh to discuss the hookah parlours in Mumbai with the similar demand to collect moneySingh said that he reconfirmed all this information four days ago with ACP Sanjay Patil and also reproduced the WhatsApp chat with him in the letter to the CMBoth Vaze and ACP Patil had reported their predicament to Singh who was mulling over how to sort out the issue of corrupt malpracticesSingh asserted that Deshmukh had repeatedly bypassed him and called officers to his official residence asking them to carry out official assignments and money collection schemes and targetsHe pointed out that in the past one year Deshmukh had even instructed his officers to adopt a specific course of action in police investigations which the IPS officer pointed out were political interference illegal and unconstitutionalIn order to bolster his contentions Singh referred to the recent death of Dadra amp Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar at a Mumbai hotel in which Deshmukh had reportedly insisted that the Mumbai Police should register a case of abetment of suicide to derive political mileageAt that time after seeking legal opinion Singh said he had informed Thackeray Deshmukh and others that it could only be done by the police of the Union TerritoryThe minister was unhappy with Singhs resistance and despite knowing the full background he went ahead to announce a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter earlier this monthSingh said he was aware of the likely retaliation against him and hence was placing the true picture on record for the CMs consideration and corrective actionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove 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