Dropping a bombshell in home ministry corruption scandal, CBI records current boss Subodh Jaiswal’s statement, where he has said the Police Establishment Board meeting to discuss transfers never happened in 2020 and that postings made at the beginning of MVA regime are illegal
Anil Deshmukh was the state’s home minister when the transfers were done; (far left) Subodh Jaiswal, CBI director; (left) state’s former intelligence chief Rashmi Shukla had recorded conversations tied to alleged bribery over the transfers. File pics
There were serious lapses in the transfer of about 50 IPS officers in Maharashtra last year, when NCP leader Anil Deshmukh was the state’s home minister. This is part of CBI chief Subodh Jaiswal’s statement to the central agency, which is probing allegations of corruption and bribery against Deshmukh, mid-day has learnt. The CBI recorded its director’s statement since he was Maharashtra’s DGP when the alleged irregularities were committed.
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Sources said the development came after the Police Establishment Board (PEB) meeting of September 2020 came under CBI scanner during their ongoing investigation against Deshmukh. The agency is also trying to find if bribes were taken to transfer the DCP- and above-rank officers. Rashmi Shukla, state’s former intelligence department chief, had allegedly recorded conversations tied to the alleged bribery over police postings last year and the data was handed over to the central Home department. As the CBI spoke to Jaiswal, he made the shocking revelation that the important meeting of the PEB never happened ahead of the transfers last September, said sources.
Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte was the Additional CS-Home then
As per the Maharashtra Police Act and Gazette of Maharashtra—June 2014, the PEB must meet before such high-profile transfers. The chairperson of the meeting should be the Additional Chief Secretary (Home ), the vice chairperson should be the Director-General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police. The PEB meeting should also have the DGP of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mumbai police chief as its members, apart from Additional Director General and Inspector General of Police (Establishment) as member and secretary.
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Following the statement of the CBI director, the agency sought the minutes of the PEB meeting of September last year in which around 50 officers were transferred by the state government. “The state government is not cooperating and the same has been informed to the high court,” said an officer. “We have recorded the statement of several people including the officers in connection with the case,” the officer added.
After the CBI reached out to the Bombay HC over the alleged non-cooperation, the state government recently filed an affidavit saying that the documents sought by the agency are irrelevant to their probe and they are overstepping their jurisdiction. The affidavit said, “The CBI didn’t have unfettered authority to probe police transfers that have no nexus to Mr. Deshmukh. Applicant [CBI] is demanding documents and/or information which are not at all relevant in terms of relevancy to the case it is probing.”
It also said, “The documents and/or material so demanded by the applicant has no nexus whatsoever even either with the then Home Minister [Mr Deshmukh] and his associates and/or any of the allegations made against him and resultantly has no connection and therefore not needed by the applicant for the purpose of carrying out investigation. CBI was overstepping its authority, jurisdiction and power in demanding the documents and/or information.”
Paramb Bir Singh was Mumbai CP at the time of the transfers
The affidavit added, “The State government and its officials are ready and willing to fully cooperate with the applicant [CBI] in its investigation, provided the investigation is done strictly within the four corners of orders passed by this Hon’ble Court.” The minutes of the PEB meeting apart, sources said, the CBI has also sought CCTV footage of the home department at Mantralaya, especially the outer area of the state home minister’s office and a copy of the recordings done during the tenure of state intelligence department chief Rashmi Shukla and relevant documents related to the alleged irregularities.
As the state’s DGP, Jaiswal, who is known to be an upright officer with a no nonsense attitude, had an uneasy relationship with the MVA government, which ordered a probe into the Bhima Koregaon case that was registered when Devendra Fadanvis was the CM. After the state investigation began, the Centre handed over the case to the NIA. The second tussle between Jaiswal and the Thackeray-led MVA government came to the fore after IPS officers were transferred in September last year keeping him in the dark. At the time, Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte was ACS-home, Jaiswal was the DGP, Bipin Singh was DG-ACB and Param Bir Singh was the Mumbai police chief.
Sources in CBI said the agency got the cell tower locations of all the officers who were supposed to be in the PEB meeting, but it found that each of them was at a different location, another indication that the meeting did not happen. While Jaiswal did not respond to messages and calls from mid-day, CBI’s chief spokesperson said they don’t reveal the details of an ongoing investigation. Calls and messages to Kunte also remained unanswered.
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