News Analysis India

Tag: Maharashtra Police

  • Aurangabad police chief will act against Raj Thackeray over speech: Maharashtra DGP

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra police chief Rajnish Seth on Tuesday said Aurangabad police commissioner will take appropriate legal action against MNS leader Raj Thackeray over his speech against loudspeakers atop mosques.

    “Aurangabad CP is looking into the speech. He will take whatever legal action that is needed,” Seth told reporters, two days after Thackeray, at a rally in Aurangabad, called for “silencing” loudspeakers from the mosques from May 4.

    Seth met state Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil earlier on Tuesday and the two, along with senior police officials, reviewed the law-and-order situation ahead of the MNS chief’s deadline.

    “Maharashtra police are capable of handling any kind of law-and-order situation. SRPF and Home Guards have been deployed in the state,” Seth said.

    “I appeal everyone to maintain peace,” he added.

  • Arond 40 IPS officers transferred in Maharashtra, Nashik city gets new police chief

    By PTI

    MUMABI: In a major reshuffle, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday promoted or transferred around 40 senior police officers, including Nashik police commissioner Deepak Pandey, who has been replaced, days after he reportedly alleged that land mafias were hand in glove with a section of revenue department officials and faced flak for going public on the issue.

    Transfers and promotions were announced in multiple official orders. DIG (VIP security) Jayant Naiknavare will replace Pandey as the Nashik police commissioner. Pandey, who was criticised by Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat for making the allegation in the media, has been appointed special inspector general (prevention of atrocities on women department).

    In the backdrop of loudspeaker row, Pandey had issued directives a few days ago stating no one will be allowed to play bhajan or songs on loudspeakers within 15-minute period before and after the call of ‘azaan’ in the radius of 100 meters of any mosque in Nashik city.

    The directives were issued in the wake of MNS president Raj Thackeray’s demand that loudspeakers atop mosques be removed by May 3 or else Hanuman Chalisa will be played on loudspeakers in front of them. According to media reports, in March Pandey had written a letter to the DGP seeking transfer out of Nashik city.

    In a separate letter to the state police chief, the IPS officer had sought curtailment in powers of district revenue officers and also suggested certain administrative changes. The government has also transferred Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash, who will be the new Spl IG (VIP security), Maharashtra. Spl IG (Sudhar Seva) Ankush Shinde will replace Prakash as the Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissioner.

    In another development, Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch Milind Bharambe and Spl IG (Law & Order) Suhas Warke have been transferred to each other’s posts.  Joint Commissioner of Pune city Ravindra Shisve has been appointed IG (State human rights commission), while senior officer Sureshkumar Mekala has been named IG (State CID).

    DIG Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Lakhmi Gautam has been transferred as IG (establishment) in the Maharashtra police headquarters, while Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police’s West Region Sandeep Karnik has been promoted and appointed in Shisve’s place.

    Another senior officer and Karnik’s batchmate Satyanarayan who serves in Mumbai Police’s Traffic department has been appointed IG (coastal security), his counterpart in Mumbai’s North region Praveenkumar Padwal, joint commissioner of police (EOW), while S Jaykumar has been promoted as IG (administration) in the state police headquarters.

    IPS officer Nishith Mishra has been posted as IG (Anti-Terrorism Squad), Sanjay Mohite promoted as IG (Konkan range), Dattatray Karale promoted as JCP Thane, Pravin Pawar promoted as Director, Maharashtra Intelligence Academy, and Balasaheb G Shekhar as IG (Nashik range).

    In all, the government has promoted 14 officials as special police inspector general and transferred many of them elsewhere. Eleven officials were promoted as deputy inspector general and transferred from their current place of posting.

  • Ram Navami violence: Maharashtra cops collecting details of incidents; at least 20 cases registered

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra police have started collecting details of untoward incidents that took place during Ram Navami, which was celebrated across the state on April 10, and are taking action accordingly, a senior official said on Tuesday.

    At least 20 cases were registered statewide in connection to Ram Navami incidents, he said. He said that police had issued instructions to people to celebrate the occasion by following noise pollution norms and ensuring communal amity, adding that the untoward incidents include those connected to noise pollution and flouting of time limits.

    “At 30 places, Hanuman Chalisa recitation was organised, and at least five offences have been registered against individuals and mobs in connection with them,” he added.

  • Will hear acting Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey over plea for permanent appointment: Bombay HC

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday said it will have to hear senior IPS officer and current acting Director General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra, Sanjay Pandey before passing an order on a petition seeking permanent appointment of an officer to the post.

    A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik said that while earlier this week it had closed the matter for judgment noting that there was no need to hear Pandey, it has later come to the court’s notice that there are some direct allegations against the IPS officer in the petition.

    “While dictating our judgment in the case, we came across a few paragraphs in the petition where there are certain direct allegations made against Sanjay Pandey. In view of this, we deem it appropriate and necessary to implead Sanjay Pandey as a party respondent in the petition. We will hear him first and then pass our judgment,” the court said.

    The court recalled its January 25 order reserving the matter for judgment. The bench on Friday directed Pandey to file his affidavit in response to the petition by February 4. The Maharashtra government and the UPSC shall also file affidavits if they wish to, the bench said, posting the matter for further hearing.

    The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by a city-based advocate Datta Mane seeking directions to the state government to make a permanent appointment to the post of the Director General of Police (DGP).

    Mane’s counsel Abhinav Chandrachud had argued that as per a judgment passed by the Supreme Court, the post of the state’s top police officer could not be an acting one and that an officer with the minimum tenure requirements as per the 2006 ruling must be appointed.

    The petition sought that the state government must appoint a DGP as per the recommendation made by the selection committee of the UPSC in November 2021.

    Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for the state government, had told the court that Pandey, currently the senior most IPS officer in the state, had been appointed as the acting DGP last year after the then DGP Subodh Jaiswal vacated the post midterm following his transfer to the CBI.

    In the November 1 meeting of the UPSC selection committee, of which the state’s then Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte was a party, the names of IPS officers Hemant Nagrale, Rajnish Seth and K Venkatesham were recommended for the post of Maharashtra DGP.

    Kunte signed off on the three names at the time, but on November 8, he wrote to the UPSC saying that it had erred in not recommending the current acting DGP Sanjay Pandey’s name and that it would reconsider the same.

    The court had earlier this week noted that Kunte’s conduct was not proper and not based on any legal principles. The bench had noted that it did not behove Kunte to have not raised a grievance or pointed out the error committed, if any, by the committee before signing off on the three names.

    Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the Union government, had told the court that once the three names had been recommended, there was no question for the UPSC to reconsider the same.

  • Money laundering: Former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh’s questioning continues beyond midnight 

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case continued beyond midnight on Monday, November 1, 2021.

    Deshmukh reached the ED office in south Mumbai at around 11.50 am along with his lawyer.

    The 71-year-old NCP leader was still inside the central agency office as of midnight.

    The federal probe agency is recording his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the criminal investigation being carried out by it in the alleged Rs 100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket in the Maharashtra Police establishment that led to Deshmukh’s resignation in April, officials said.

    ED joint director Satyavrat Kumar was seen entering the agency’s office along with some other officers at around 9 pm.

    The former minister had skipped at least four summonses issued by the ED in the case, but after the Bombay High Court last week refused to quash them, he appeared before the agency.

    The ED’s case against Deshmukh and others came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked him in a corruption case related to allegations levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

    The NCP leader has rejected all allegations against him.

    The politician has said Singh made the allegations against him after he was removed from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March this year.

    Earlier in the day, Deshmukh claimed a false narrative was being created by “vested interests’ that he was avoiding appearance before the ED.

    In a statement released after he entered the ED office, Deshmukh claimed a “witch-hunt” has been launched at the instance of certain “inimical interests”, by people who have absolutely no credibility, honour or pride.

    The NCP leader further said he has only sought a transparent, fair and an objective probe without any fear or favour.

    Slamming Singh without taking his name, Deshmukh said “unscrupulous persons” are themselves knee-deep involved in several rackets of corruption.

    “The principal person who held the high office of Commissioner of Police is now a wanted absconding criminal,” Deshmukh said.

    On Sunday, the CBI took into custody one Santosh Jagtap in connection with the case of alleged corruption against Deshmukh, making it the first arrest in the high-profile case, officials earlier said.

    The agency arrested Jagtap, an alleged middleman, from Thane, they said, adding the accused was evading the probe even after the issuance of non-bailable warrants against him last month. 

  • Maharashtra: Dismissed cop takes girl hostage, opens fire

    By PTI

    PUNE: A dismissed assistant police inspector took a girl hostage inside a house and shot at a senior officer before being overpowered in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district on Thursday, police said.

    Nobody was injured in the incident and the girl was safely rescued, officials said.

    The drama unfolded at Digraj village, five km from Rahuri town, said Manoj Patil, Ahmednagar district Superintendent of Police.

    Sunil Lokhande, the accused, had some personal dispute with the girl’s mother, he said.

    “He barged into the woman’s house this morning and took the girl hostage. Deputy SP Sandip Mitke, senior inspector Rajendra Ingle and others reached the spot and tried to persuade him to come out,” the SP said.

    When Mitke went in, Lokhande pointed a gun at him.

    “Mitke tried to catch hold of the gun’s barrel and there was a scuffle during which Lokhande fired. But Mitke was lucky and was not hit,” Patil said.

    Others soon overpowered Lokhande and rescued the girl.

    A case was being registered against him, said inspector Ingle.

    Lokhande had been arrested in an extortion case in 2012 and subsequently dismissed, officials said.

  • Maharashtra police reduce duty hours of women constables to help them balance home life

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra police has reduced working hours of its women constables from 12 hours to eight hours, to help them balance their professional and personal lives, a senior official said on Friday.

    State Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey confirmed the implementation of the initiative, which was first tried out in Nagpur city, Amarvati city and Pune Rural.

    The initiative was implemented on an experimental basis in the three regions last month, and will come into force in other cities and districts in the state in some days, the official said.

    Considering the commitments of women constables have at home besides their professional duties, the initiative was started a month ago and gave good results, he said.

    Nagpur police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, who first implemented the move from August 28, said the move was started to help women constables balance their personal and professional lives.

    After their duty hours were reduced, women constables were able to give time to their children and other family members, he said “We saw some positive results through this initiative.

    Women constables were able to perform their professional duties in a stress-free manner and could give more time to their families as well,” said Arti Singh, commissioner of police, Amaravati city.

    Although the duty hours will be reduced to eight hours, there may be exceptional circumstances such as bandobast during events or festivals, another official said.

    In such instances, officers in-charge can increase the hours with permission from the deputy commissioner of police in cities and other senior officers in the districts, he added.

  • 42-year-old man held for repeatedly raping his 6-year-old niece in Maharashtra

    By PTI

    THANE: Police have arrested a man from Ulhasnagar town in Maharashtra’s Thane district for allegedly raping his six-year-old niece on multiple occasions, an official said on Saturday.

    The 42-year-old accused was arrested on Friday, the official of Hill Line police station said.

    “The accused lived in the neighbourhood of his niece’s family. The accused used to take her to his house on the pretext of playing with her. However, he would sexually assault her there. A couple of days back, the girl’s elder brother spotted the accused indulging in sexual acts with her. The boy reported the matter to his parents, who approached the police and lodged a complaint against the man,” he said.

    A medical test was conducted on the girl, which confirmed that she had been raped, police said.

    After that, the accused was arrested and booked under IPC section 376 (rape) and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

    He was produced before a local court, which remanded him in police custody for four days, they said.

  • Terror suspect nabbed by Delhi cops was under watch, no intelligence failure by Maha police: Minister

    The Delhi Police #39;s Special Cell on Tuesday busted a Pakistan-organised terror module with the arrest of six men out of whom one person hails from Mumbai.

  • Banned tobacco products worth over Rs 6 lakh seized in Maharashtra; two held

    By PTI

    PALGHAR:  Police have seized banned gutka and tobacco products worth Rs 6.47 lakh after a raid at a grocery store and a residential premises in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, an official said on Tuesday.

    Two persons were also arrested following the raid conducted in Nallasopara area on Sunday evening, he said.

    The raiding team initially seized banned gutka, paan masala and scented tobacco from a grocery shop in the area.

    Later, the police raided a residential premises in a chawl where they seized more stock of the banned goods, the official said.

    The police arrested the grocery shop owner and an occupant of the room from where the additional stock of the banned goods was seized, he said.

    A case was registered against the two accused under relevant sections, he added.

    The sale and consumption of gutka, scented and flavoured tobacco has been banned in Maharashtra since 2012.

    In 2018, the state government made sale of gutka a non-bailable offence and enhanced the punishment for it from six months to three years.