PUNE, 9 November 2003 — The state police was rocked once again yesterday, when the Special Investigating Team (SIT) interrogated Bombay Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Sharma in the sensational 120,000 million rupees fake stamp scam. Sharma was summoned twice by the SIT chief, former director general of police S.S. Puri, in the morning and later in the evening. The interrogation was continuing till the filing of this report late in the evening.
Meanwhile the arrested Joint Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Sridhar Vagal was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Pune in the evening. The court remanded Vagal to police custody till Nov. 13. The premises of the court were kept out of bounds for the print and electronic media.
Late on Friday night the police swooped on the residence and four other premises owned by Vagal and is reported to have seized five guns and incriminating documents.
The arrest of Vagal, known in the police circles as the top crime buster and the twice interrogation of the Bombay police chief has generated panic among top police officials and politicians. Vagal is the first IPS officer to be booked under the draconian Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act. Vagal who was a nuclear physicist prior to becoming an Indian Police Service officer, is charged with taking a huge amount as bribe from the prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi and allowing him to enjoy luxurious treatment from the Bombay Crime Branch.
Ranjit Sharma was asked as to why he took Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohammed Chand Mulani to Bangalore in July 2002, despite the fact that Mulani had alleged dubious record. Sharma is said to have told the SIT that Mulani went with him to Bangalore when there was nothing adverse against him. The Bombay police commissioner has maintained that as police commissioner it was not his duty to either keep a tab on the investigations or the investigating officer. An SIT official said that this stand taken by Sharma was not convincing.
Opposition leader and former Shiv Sena Chief Minister Narayan Rane demanded the arrest of Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Chhagan Bhujbal. He asked who had directed the police to protect Telgi? Bhujbal is not above suspicion in this case. He has been instrumental in the flourishing trade of corruption in the police force for the past four years. Rane alleged that the way Bhujbal had promoted corruption in the police department, it had spread like a cancer.
Bhujbal and some politicians were avoiding the media. A tense Bhujbal when asked by the media under which section Vagal was arrested, expressed ignorance and said he did not know it.
Requested to find out about the law, Bhujbal said he could not ask about it as the SIT reports directly to the Bombay High Court. He said that he did not have any information about the arrest of Vagal.
