MUMBAI: Around five years ago when he was a vociferous Opposition member, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had taken an aggressive stand in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha demanding the suspension of police officer Parambir Singh. Now the Chief Minister, Fadnavis had then alleged that Singh was responsible for the mental and physical torture of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a woman in her 30s and an accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case. Fadnavis wanted Singh to be punished for “inhuman treatment” to Pragya while she had been in his custody when he was with the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
Then, in a strange twist on March 17, 2015, Fadnavis promoted Singh as Police Commissioner of Thane, a satellite city of Mumbai. Singh was chosen for the plum job by ignoring the seniority of other three officers. The post is much sought by many IPS officers as it is the most coveted one after that of the Mumbai police commissioner and is considered to be a gateway to a treasured posting in India’s financial capital.
Singh’s elevation has led to protests against Fadnavis by a section of IPS officers and right wingers. The ignored IPS officers contacted each other immediately after Singh’s appointment to discuss their fortunes. “They are very depressed. They believe that the CM did injustice to them. They felt that it was better to leave the force than work in suppressed working conditions,” a senior officer said.
At the same time, right wing organisations believe that Pragya, a former Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activist, faced Singh’s wrath because he wanted to extract a false confession from her. They too have expressed anguish at Fadnavis. Pragya, who is battling cancer, is lodged in a jail in Madhya Pradesh. A series of bomb blasts on September 8, 2006, in Malegaon in Maharashtra’s Nashik district killed 37 people and wounded 125.
“The BJP government has conferred the President’s Medal on an officer who had tortured senior Hindutva activist Sambhaji Bhide. The BJP is not bothered about the pleas of Hindutva activists. I am not surprised by Fadnavis’ action. What else can be expected from him?” said advocate Sanjeev Punhalekar, who has represented several accused in the Malegaon blast case.
Punhalekar pointed towards a delay on the part of the Maharashtra government to sanction the prosecution of police officer Rajendra Ghule in the same case to argue that Fadnavis had ignored Hindutva activists. “The MP High Court has asked the Maharashtra government to give its nod to the CBI to prosecute Ghule for creating false evidences. We had expected that Fadnavis would move swiftly on this issue but he is sitting on the file like his predecessor,” Punhalekar said.
Punhalekar and his team have filed four petitions against Singh in various courts alleging that he had tortured and falsely implicated the accused in the case. The matter is pending with the courts.
Singh, an IPS officer of the 1988 batch, is credited for containing the activities of gangster Arun Gawli in Mumbai. He was the first senior officer who dared to enter Gawli’s house for a search.
A senior Mantralaya official said that Fadnavis must have chosen Singh on the basis of his performance. “Parambir Singh is a good officer. Whatever he did in the investigation of the Malegaon case was a part of his duty. He must have received instructions from his seniors on how to go ahead with the investigation. It does not mean he was settling some personal score,” the official said.
The Opposition Congress looks at the development as a curtain raiser of possible dissent in the state’s already demoralised police force. Fadnavis is under fire from the Opposition for not handling the Home Department with due sincerity.
“The CM and the DGP (director general of police) Sanjeev Dayal don’t meet regularly. Three junior officers had openly complained against the DGP. A senior bureaucrat told me that he was fed up of our government. Now, he says he is sick of the new government in such a short period of time,” said Congress legislator Anant Gadgil.