In one of the main consequences of the case in which a Scorpio with 20 bars of jelly was found parked in front of the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in South Mumbai ‘Antilia’ on February 25, the government of Maharashtra on Wednesday dismissed the 1988 group IPS officer Param Bir Singh as Mumbai Police Commissioner, and appointed him Director General, Home Guards.
Singh was replaced by Hemant Nagrale, an IPS from the 1987 group who held the position of Director General of Maharashtra Police, as well as Director General of Legal and Technical Affairs.
Rajneesh Seth, a 1988 batch IPS officer and Director General of the Anti-Corruption Office, has been appointed as Director General of the State.
The reorganization came three days after the National Investigative Agency (NIA) arrested Deputy Police Inspector Sachin Waze in connection with the Ambani terror case. The NIA has alleged that Waze was the author of this crime.
Maharashtra Interior Minister Anil Deshmukh said Wednesday night on Twitter that Nagrale would be Mumbai ‘s new police commissioner. Singh was transferred to Home Guards as CEO, which is considered a non-executive position.
Sanjay Pandey, who was Director General of Home Guards, has been appointed Director General of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation, a post from which he was assigned an additional position. Sources said Pandey, the highest-ranking police officer in the state, applied for a license shortly after the announcements were announced.
Over the past two days, the leaders of the Maharashtra tripartite coalition, Maha Vikas Aghadi, have been in a series of meetings to decide the course of action to be taken after Waze’s arrest and the damage it has caused to the credibility of government.
The opposition, led by former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, had demanded that Singh and Interior Minister Anil Deshmukh be transferred.
“Waze, which was handling several major cases, reported directly to the Mumbai PC. Despite this, Param Bir seemed not to know what was happening right under his nose. This made things worse for him. The whole episode did not reflect well on his handling of the force, ”said a senior government official.
The decision to transfer Param Bir Singh was made on Tuesday night after several meetings between Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and CPN chief Sharad Pawar. “However, decisions about his replacement and related transfers were being worked out in the last 24 hours,” the official said.
A police officer said that shortly after Waze was arrested late Saturday night, it was believed that the government, which had defended Waze in the Assembly, would have to take some face-saving action. While Anil Deshmukh has survived as Maharashtra’s interior minister, it was clear that Singh might not last as Mumbai police commissioner.
In the transfers made by the government, Nagrale, the new PC, is a 1987 batch officer, Seth, who has been appointed DGP, belongs to the 1988 batch. to the Mumbai Police Commissioner, in this case, since it is an additional charge, it is not a big problem, ”said an officer.
Param Bir Singh, who took over as Mumbai Police Commissioner from Sanjay Barve in February 2020, had an action-packed year with the pandemic hitting Mumbai hardest. He was in the middle of several politically charged cases, from the death of Sushant Singh Rajput to the Television Ratings Points case.
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