Transferred four days ago from the post of city’s additional civic commissioner, Sanjeev Jaiswal denies ‘special relationship’ with ex-CP Param Bir Singh in response to rumours about the same
Sanjeev Jaiswal, former additional municipal commissioner of Mumbai
Mumbai’s former additional municipal commissioner, Sanjeev Jaiswal, who was transferred four days ago, has complained to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that his life is under threat from the politicians in Thane where he had locked horns with them over illegal constructions and other unauthorised activities.
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In the letter, Jaiswal distanced himself from Param Bir Singh, who has held the post of both Thane and then Mumbai police commissioner. The letter comes after it was said that Jaiswal was shifted to an insignificant post because of his proximity to the IPS officer, who has levelled corruption allegations against an MVA minister and moved court for a probe by the Centre. The state has acted against Singh in complaints filed by his former subordinates. There had been rumours that Jaiswal tried to broker peace between Thackeray and Singh.
Jaiswal confirmed to mid-day that he has officially written the said letter, but did not comment further. The letter bears the date June 7, when he was shifted to Maharashtra State Fisheries Development Corporation as Managing Director, which is an insignificant office for the officer who has held prime positions. He was Thane civic chief for over five years.
Apparently, the officer has given a clarification regarding a complaint sent by ex-corporator from Thane, Sanjay Ghadigaonkar, to the CMO. “I would like to place on record my stand in the above context without waiting for an official intimation to reply to the same. Ghadigaonkar’s enmity and hostility against me started when I disqualified him as a corporator after his bogus caste certificate was set aside by the Caste Scrutiny Committee,” he said, adding that the corporator was also barred from contesting elections for six years.
Thane’s ex-civic chief further stated that Ghadigaonkar was part of a gang that was responsible for abetting a Thane builder’s suicide some years ago but could not be arrested for the lack of evidence while some sitting corporators were arrested.
“This gang had started an era of blackmailing and extortion in Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and with the support of the police I was quite successful in breaking the operators of this Golden Gang,” he said, narrating how his report helped the police nail a racket of RTI activists for blackmailing MLA Pratap Sarnaik. He said he was maligned through a bogus video, which the police investigated and arrested the culprits behind it — owners of ladies bars and prostitution dens.
He said that in his tenure, he demolished illegal construction on 100 hectares of urban land to widen the roads. “The illegal ‘hafta’ being collected was also stopped, which definitely made many people vindictive about me and earned me many enemies. I was under a lot of threat. As a result, the ex-CM and the police were kind enough to give me suitable police protection. Unfortunately, after my transfer to Mumbai, though the threat still remained, my police protection was not restored.”
“I’m fully aware that I am still under threat, and after this letter my life would come more under threat. It’s high time that I should bring all this on record so that I can get some justice and respite from these repeated bogus, frivolous and mentally disturbing complaints,” wrote Jaiswal.
No special relationship with Param Bir Singh
Jaiswal said that till he was Thane municipal commissioner, he could fight all his enemies without worrying about his life because of Thackeray and Shiv Sena’s (TMC’s ruling party) support. “I would also like to place on record the support given by Thane police and the ex-police commissioners Param Bir Singh and Vijay Phansalkar. Due to all this, and my professional proximity to them, it has been alleged in the above letter about my special relationship with the ex-CP (Singh),” he added in the letter.
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