MUMBAI, 22 December 2007 — Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil has recommended to the federal government the dismissal of four senior Indian Police Service officers of Maharashtra cadre on grounds of “unsatisfactory” performance.
Taking a strong stand against the IPS officers, Patil, in his recommendations, said the state government did not require the services of the four senior IPS officers — C. Prabhakar, a deputy inspector general, Karl D’Souza, superintendent of police, CID, Madhav Chitale, superintendent of police, Nagpur Railways and S.S. Ahire, superintendent of police (PCR and Atrocity) Nanded.
Patil noted that the officers had crossed the age limit of 50 and their performance review record, in accordance with the existing legal provisions, had not impressed the state Home Department. Patil forwarded the file to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for his signature, as required by regulations, before being forwarded to Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil for approval.
Patil has also hinted at taking stern action against some IPS officers who disappeared during their foreign assignments and did not return to their postings in Maharashtra.
Citing the example of senior IPS officer Mary Fernandez, whose last assignment was as DCP-Zone-VII in Mumbai, the source said, “She had been absent for over two years without informing the department, but no action was taken against her when she resumed duty. Now, once again Mary is not around.”
Earlier, Rahul Roy Sur, an IPS officer, who had gone on a UN assignment a decade ago, took up a job with the United Nations Organization and did not return. He resigned from the IPS cadre only recently. To tackle officials like Mary and Sur, the state Home Department plans to prepare a list to be sent to the federal Home Ministry, recommending action against them.
Meanwhile, in another development, Irfan Shaikh, father of Imran, who was killed in an alleged “stage-managed encounter” by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch in Powai last week, took the body of his son on Thursday evening from the J.J. Hospital morgue, saying he did so to protect the rest of his family from death threats.
Irfan filed a complaint with the Deonar police on Thursday evening, hours before claiming the body, in which he alleged that three people broke into his house on Wednesday evening and threatened to kill all the family members if he did not take Imran’s body from the morgue.
Irfan identified the three people as a municipal councilor, a real estate developer and a policeman, and alleged that while the three were in his house, about 15 others were standing outside his house armed with swords and choppers. Irfan said in his complaint that the men threatened to kill the entire family if they raised the issue of Imran’s killing again. Meanwhile, the Muslim community leaders have launched a signature campaign to garner support for their movement against “police atrocity.”
