Chief minister Ashok Chavan has directed home minister RR Patil to conduct a probe into the blame game between top-ranking IPS officers, which has exposed the fissures within the state police just days ahead of the first anniversary of the 26/11 attacks.
The factionalism within the police force is not new but the CM is worried about the harm this divide can cause to a state still reeling from last year’s terror attack. “It is high time top police officials learned to work as a team. There is no room for personal likes and dislikes,” Chavan told DNA in an exclusive interview.
Chavan wants to crack the whip on the warring groups as a whole, and not mete out piecemeal punishment. Highly-placed sources in the chief minister’s office said, “It is not a case of singling out and punishing just one individual (read Hasan Gafoor). But the CM
also wants a probe into those speaking out of turn (anti-Gafoor camp).”
Home minister RR Patil confirmed that he has ordered an investigation into the matter.
The can of worms had been re-opened by former police commissioner Hasan Gafoor in a magazine interview, where he had commented that senior IPS officers - former joint commissioner (law and order) KL Prasad, then additional commissioner (ATS) Parambir Singh, additional commissioner (Crime branch) Deven Bharati and additional commissioner (South) K Venkateshan - had not been willing to go to the frontline during 26/11. Gafoor, later, had denied making these remarks but the storm clouds had already gathered by then.
Ironically, the RD Pradhan committee findings on 26/11 made public a year ago had made adverse comments against Gafoor for his lack of leadership during 26/11 but gave a clean chit to director general of police AN Roy.
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