Mumbai/New Delhi, November 13
With Mumbai’s Police Commissioner Ranjit Sharma going on indefinite leave from Thursday, the stage is set for his replacement. Meanwhile, the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police today claimed to have arrested two more persons for their involvement in the stamp paper scam.
A day after investigators listed several instances of ‘omissions and commissions’ against him before the Bombay High Court, Sharma met top politicians and bureaucrats in the state on Thursday morning. He then went home and did not turn up at the office, sources said.
Among others, Sharma met Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Chief Secretary Ajit Nimbalkar and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) U.K. Mukhopadhyay, sources said. He then left for a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal.
Meanwhile, the government has shortlisted a number of candidates to replace Sharma. sources say. A final decision will be taken after consultations with Sharad Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, and senior Congress leaders, sources here say. Both the NCP and the Congress are part of the ruling Democratic Front coalition in Maharashtra.
Though Sharma was to retire on November 30, his immediate replacement became a near certainty after a special investigating team (SIT) probing the scandal found several cases of “omissions and commissions” against him, sources said.
On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court had asked for a report prepared by the SIT to be forwarded to the Chief Minister for action against Sharma. The contents of the report were, however, classified in view of the ongoing investigations.
The court agreed to Advocate General Goolam Vahanvati’s suggestions that the report would be
first presented to Shinde for action against Sharma before the next hearing of the matter scheduled for November 27.Earlier, the court had specifically asked the SIT to probe allegations that Sharma had hampered investigations during his tenure as the Pune police chief two years ago when the scam surfaced.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police has arrested Lalit Kumar Patodi and Sushant Kumar Dass for renting out offices to Abdul Karim Telgi in Delhi and also for doing favours by way of supplying call girls and opening bank accounts for facilitating easy transaction of money.
Sushant Kumar Dass is the brother of Shyam Patodi, one of the seven accused lodged in a Delhi jail in connection with the scam. Shyam and others were arrested in the capital earlier and postal stamps, foreign stamps, non-judicial stamps worth Rs 220 crore were recovered from their possession, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Dinesh Bhatt.
During interrogation, Lalit Patodi told sleuths that he was a property dealer operating from Connaught Place. Initially he had rented out one of his offices to the Telgi gang and when Telgi offered him a share in his more than Rs 3,000 crore racket, Patodi provided two more of his offices in Connaught Place to the gang for supporting Telgi’s nefarious activities.
Patodi, who used to meet Telgi in hotel Diplomat in Chanakya Puri during 1999-2001, started supplying him call girls after the Telgi evinced keen interest in girls. Subsequently, Patodi also joined the gang and opened two bogus bank accounts in Punjab National Bank, Minto Road, in the names of Capital Services and Sharp Enterprises.
The two withdrew Rs 2.25 lakh from the Capital Services account and Rs 7.55 lakh from the Sharp Enterprises account which were operated by Sohail Khan, a henchman of Telgi.
S.K. Dass revealed that he assisted in hiring offices for the gang in Gole Market and Karol Bagh and was not paid commission for the same. Since Dass was in desperate need of money he met Telgi in the Hotel Diplomat for money. But Telgi taking advantage of his poverty asked him to assist in the multi-crore scam.
Dass also opened two bogus accounts in the names and withdrew money on several occasions by giving self-cheques and passed on the money to Telgi.
PUNE: Joint Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Sridhar Vagal, arrested for his alleged complicity in multi-crore fake stamp paper racket, was today remanded in judicial custody till November 27.
Vagal, holding the rank of Inspector-General of Police and the first IPS officer to be booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was produced before the court on the expiry of his police remand.
Meanwhile, lawyer for Shridhar Vagal today asked for a special sub-jail for his client owing to threat perceptions to his client from the underworld.
— PTI
