Uddhav, Aaditya Pressured Me To Reinstate Vaze: Param Bir To CBI
Mumbai: Former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh said Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray “pressured” him to reinstate suspended policeman Sachin Vaze.
His statement is part of a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Deshmukh and his two former aides Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde in a special court.
Sacked police officer Sachin Vaze is a government witness in the case. Deshmukh has been accused of corruption and abuse of his official position.
Singh said he spoke to Aaditya Thackeray about the same who then asked him to speak to the CM.
“When I spoke to the CM, he asked me to reinstate Waze. My decision to reinstate Waze was due to the pressure put on me by the CM and the HM,” Singh said.
Singh also claimed that he had also informed NCP chief Sharad Pawar about the “misdeeds” of Deshmukh in March 2021.
“I had met the Chief Minister (Uddhav Thackeray) on several occasions in March 2021 and earlier when I told him about the misdeeds of the Home Minister (Home Minister Anil Deshmukh),” Singh said in his statement.
“Let me state that there was a meeting in ‘Varsha’ between March 4 to 15, 2021, in which I told him about the acts of the Home Minister. However, the CM merely said that he (Deshmukh) was my home minister,” the senior IPS officer said.
Singh said he had also informed NCP chief Sharad Pawar about Deshmukh’s “misdeeds” in March 2021, as the home minister belonged to the NCP and Pawar controlled him as NCP chief.
“I have also raised the issue of misbehavior of Deshmukh with the ministers of Ajit Pawar, Anil Parab and Jayant Patil,” the CBI said in a statement quoting him.
Singh said, ‘Let me state that CM, Ajit Pawar and Anil Parab were aware of these malpractices. They didn’t confirm his knowledge in words, but from their reactions, I could tell that they already knew.”
The senior IPS officer further said that it is not true that he had made these allegations (of corruption) against Deshmukh after he was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner.
According to the CBI, Vaze, who is now a government witness in the case, said in his statement that despite handing over Rs 4.70 crore (recovered from bar and restaurant owners) to Deshmukh’s associates, Deshmukh was upset with the low collection.
Waze said in his statement that Deshmukh had told him (Vaze) that there are 1,750 bars in Mumbai and if at least Rs 3 lakh is collected from each of them then an amount of Rs 40 to 50 crore should be collected. ),” stated in the charge sheet.
Waze further said that Deshmukh had asked him to give Rs 2 crore to join the police force again.
The CBI chargesheet also includes statements from several other bar owners who have claimed that they were asked to pay money every month by Waze to avoid police action.
The CBI also relied on the statement of ACP Sanjay Patil, in which Waje had told about Deshmukh’s demand to recover Rs 40-50 crore per month from the bar.
“When I asked Waze why was he doing this (collecting money), Waze told me he was doing this for Number 1. When I asked him who Number 1 was, he (Waze) said it was the Commissioner of Police.
However, the code name for the CP Mumbai in wireless communication is ‘King’,” Patil said in his statement.
(With PTI Inputs)
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