Mumbai, March 22
Maharashtra’s Home Minister RR Patil today told the state legislature that the government had suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Deshbhratar for allegedly trying to extort Rs 1 crore from Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali who has been arrested in connection with a hawala case.

According to Patil, Deshbhratar had demanded Rs 1 crore from Yusuf Lakdawala, an associate of Ali, in order to provide him proper facilities whilst in custody.

Deshbratar had been transferred as DCP, Railways, after Ali’s confession, allegedly recorded on film, made its way to newspaper and television journalists. An inquiry by the Maharashtra government indicated that the officer had recorded Ali’s confession using a spy camera and released the footage to the media.

The film reportedly shows Ali boasting about his connections with top politicians from Maharashtra, including former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, RR Patil and Ahmed Patel, a senior Congress leader who is the political secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The name of former Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Gafoor also reportedly figured in the film.

For the past two days, the opposition parties in Maharashtra have been accusing the government of “victimising” Deshbratar to hide its own shortcomings. The government only confirmed today that the officer had been suspended.

According to Patil, a preliminary inquiry conducted by the CID indicated that the CD was doctored. Leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Eknath Khadse of the BJP said the government was cracking down on Deshbratar because he sought its permission to provide information on Ali to the Supreme Court.