Param Bir Singh has moved to Supreme Court submitting a detailed report on the various malpractices of HM Anil Deshmukh and demanding an investigation. The Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had been holding meetings in February 2021 at his residence with police officers including Sachin Vaze and Sanjay Patil, bypassing their seniors and gave them a target to collect Rs. 100 crores every month from various places.
Very senior members of the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) have told Afternoon Voice that the infamous API Sachin Vaze had collected money two months before Anil Deshmukh made the supposed demands. Vaze used to call Hoteliers and collected money as soon as he was reinstated.
Maharashtra’s Vaze sage tittle-tattle, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh appealed to the Supreme Court to seek an impartial and fair investigation into the alleged malpractices of Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
A reputed shop owner at Mumbai’s Crawford Market, who sells imported goods, said “Vaze had his office at the CIU office inside the compound of the HQ of Commissioner of Police. He would call businessmen from the Food and Beverage and convince them to shed some money every month. Businessmen used to pay because whenever there were raids from SSB officials he used to help us get out of other legal troubles.”
Param Bir Singh’s decision to approach the SC comes amid MVA leaders, including Sharad Pawar, refuting the extortion allegations levelled against the NCP leader. Senior advocate and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi will represent Param Bir Singh in the case.
92-year-old, former Indian police officer Julio Ribeiro said, “Param Bir Singh’s allegations that Home Minister Deshmukh had asked Sachin Vaze ‘to collect Rs 100 crores for him every month, is just ‘unavailable’. Ribeiro rather questioned the integrity of Singh and said when Singh learnt about this collection instructions; he should have gone straight to the Minister and told him that this is not their job. Param Bir’s claims and his letter to the Chief Minister after his transfer are of no use, he added.
In his petition, Param Bir Singh has informed about the various meetings chaired by Home Minister Anil Deshmukh towards the end of February with Crime Intelligence Unit’s (CIU) Sachin Vaze in the presence of his personal secretary.
A woman from Pila House said, “Vaze was cruel, his eyes were very scary and the officer had the ability to dominate people with his position”. We were at peace when he was thrown out of the department, but now he emerged more powerful and all that happened due to political patronage.” When asked is he the only officer who troubled Pila house ladies, she said there are many like him but they would not dare beyond the limit.”
While defecating Deshmukh, Sharad Pawar’s declared that Anil Deshmukh was quarantined from February 15 onwards is challengeable as the state Home Minister had held a press conference on the same day to offer a clarification on celebrity tweets on the issue of farmers’ protest, noting that he had ordered an inquiry into BJP’s IT cell and not on Bharat Ratna’s Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar.
A Bar Owner from Thane Gramin said “Vaze and his associates used to collect regular hafta, we used to be scared of him because he is an encounter specialist and we never know by denying him what fate we would have invited, he further said, “agar ye hafta nahi lega to khabri ko kahase paisa dega? ( if he doesn’t take hafta how will he pay his informers?).”
Shetty Anna (refused to give full name) owner of six Bars across Mumbai said, “We made a lot of complaints to our association, it’s not just Vaze but many police officers like him extort money, we pay to live and do business fearlessly. They exploit female bar workers in the name of investigations.”
“The atrocities never end here, they only raid the bar and they only release us by taking handsome money. All this cannot happen without the senior’s knowledge. The government must take hoteliers into confidence and order a probe against the department. What Parabir saheb is saying might be true but he playing innocent sounds tricky,” he added.
Former Thane police constable told us “Collecting Hafta is not new to Mumbai these officers have assets more than what they earn, they have a mass of properties, their lifestyle and so-called flashing around gets them in this vitiating cycle of bribe collection.”
