MUMBAI: Nine days ahead of his retirement, Suprakash Chakravarty, the director general of police, Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Maharashtra police, has set the cat among the pigeons by requesting the government for permission to probe allegations of corruption against two top police officers — the newly appointed Mumbai Police Commissioner D. Shivanandan and the Additional Director General of Police (Administration) Ahmed Javed.
The move by Chakravarty has rattled the government and caused ripples in the state police force. Chakravarty was instrumental in unseating former state Director General of Police A. N. Roy from his post by challenging his appointment to the DGP post as a violation of rules. The Bombay High Court upheld his contention.
The state government is in a fix over allowing such a probe as the move could be the latest chapter in the internal rivalries that have wracked the state police, particularly since it comes during the last nine days of the outgoing ACB chief.
The Maharashtra police has been rife with several controversies including that of extra-martial affairs among some married senior IPS officials. The fresh controversy of allegations of corruption against Shivanandan, days after his predecessor Hassan Gafoor was promoted and moved out after being criticized for “poor leadership” by the two-member Pradhan Committee that probed the last year’s Mumbai terror report, has raised eyebrows in the state government secretariat.
Chakravarty has made it clear to the government that he wants its permission to investigate and interrogate Shivanandan and Ahmed Javed for alleged graft and has sent two letters simultaneously to the government, but has received no reply from it yet. Chakravarty has made it known to the government that he wants to conduct an “open inquiry” against Shivanandan over alleged irregularities in the manner in which funds were collected and a police school constructed by Shivanandan when he was the police commissioner of Thane between 2005 and 2008.
The Thane Police School was opened to educate children of policemen who cannot afford private schools. A four-story building was constructed on a 34,335 sq ft plot. To raise funds for the building, a “Shiamak Davar Show” was organized in December 2005. Construction began in March 2006 after Rs3.5 crore was collected and completed within three months. The building was opened in June 2006.
In his letter to the Home Department, Chakravarty, is believed to have said that his request for permission for an “open inquiry” was prompted by discreet inquiries conducted by the ACB. While a discreet inquiry can remain under wraps an open inquiry could make the details public and the concerned officer and his family can be questioned.
