It was not just the SIT which had advocated strict action against former Police Commissioner Sharma in the fake stamp paper scam but the Law Department as well.
The former top cop allegedly did not remove Mulani from the probe team even though there were charges against him
It was not just the SIT which had advocated strict action against former Police Commissioner Sharma in the fake stamp paper scam but the Law Department as well. The entire case against Sharma primarily rested on alleged inaction against two policemen — Assistant Police Inspector Dilip Kamat and Assistant Commissioner of Police MC Mulani.
It all began with the charges concerning Mulani, when Sharma was Pune Police Commissioner. Sharma, it was alleged, did not remove him from the investigating team even though he was informed by Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Asoke Basak that Mulani had demanded a bribe.
Later, when he became Mumbai Police Commissioner in 2003, it is learnt that a note was put forward to Sharma by Deputy Inspector General Subodh Jaiswal, who was part of the special task force to look into the Telgi scam. The note primarily urged that action be initiated against API Kamat and others as they were found with A K Telgi in a Cuffe Parade flat on January 9. It is learnt that Sharma scribbled on the note in the margin directing that urgent action should be taken but failed to ensure immediate compliance. This played a big role in building the case against him, sources say.
The Telgi case eventually got transferred to a SIT led by retired IPS officer SS Puri. A stickler for the law, Puri found errors of omission or commission committed by a string of cops and began cracking down on them. At the SIT, he was aided by Jaiswal, who allegedly felt aggrieved about the fact Sharma had not heeded him in the Kamat matter.
When the CBI took over the case from the SIT, it sought the state government’s permission to prosecute Sharma. It is learnt that the Home Department scrutinised the case against Sharma built by CBI. It looked at the case from all sides including the pros and cons and forwarded the file to the Law and Judiciary Department for its recommendation, said an official.
It is learnt that a senior officer of the rank of Joint Secretary in the Law Department pinned down Sharma primarily on Telgi’s narco-analysis test which mentioned a few senior cops and strongly recommended his prosecution. The state government thereafter gave its permission to prosecute Sharma.
Says a retired police officer, “As the Police Commissioner, Sharma would be getting any number of files. How can he take action on all in a single day? A senior officer of his rank has to prioritise, which is sometimes not easy; or he can get called to Mantralaya and be held up all day. There are any number of reasons why a senior officer of a Police Commissioner’s rank cannot act promptly on a file seeking action against an API or an ACP.”
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