Mumbai, December 1
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Sharma, who retired from service on Sunday, was today arrested by Special Investigating Team (SIT) for his alleged complicity in shielding prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam.
Sharma has been arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act for his links with Telgi and will be produced before a Pune court on Tuesday.
Sharma is the first police official who held a post like Police Commissioner of Mumbai to be arrested so far. Another senior police official to be arrested in the Telgi scam has been Joint Commissioner of Police Sridhar Vagal. In addition, several police officials at various levels have so far been held in the scandal.
Sharma was summoned to the office of the SIT on Monday morning. His interrogation continued for the whole day and he was formally placed under arrest and taken into custody later in the evening.
The SIT began questioning Sharma on a number of allegations levelled against him by senior police official S.M. Mushrif. According to Mushrif Sharma, as Police Commissioner of Pune when the scam came to light, influenced investigators and interfered with the probe into the scam.
Sharma, who was questioned extensively on Sunday a few hours before his retirement, did not attend the farewell party arranged for him by the Indian Police Service Officers Association.
Apart from facing interrogation by SIT, he has been served a chargesheet by the government, alleging several instances of omission and commission.
Sources here feel that SIT may have found more incriminating evidence against Sharma to warrant his arrest. The investigators are in possession of a number of telephone conversations Telgi had with senior politicians and police officials. It is, however, not clear if there is any evidence of Sharma himself speaking to Telgi.
Sharma went on leave after SIT provided nine instances of omission and commission by him before the court.
