The Hindu : Stamp paper case: court asks CM to act on SIT report

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 13, 2003

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Stamp paper case: court asks CM to act on SIT report

By Arunkumar Bhatt

MUMBAI Nov. 12. The Mumbai High Court today sent to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, the report of the Special Investigation Team which probed the conduct of the Mumbai Police Commissioner, Ranjit Singh Sharma, in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam.

Mr. Sharma, who is to retire on November 30, is now likely to face executive action.

The Advocate-General, Ghulam Vahanvaty, submitted to the court the report of the SIT headed by the Director-General of Police, S.S. Puri. Without going into the findings of the SIT, the Chief Justice, C.K. Thakker, asked for the Advocate-General's view on the next step, observing, "If something is mentioned in the report, consequential action should be taken".

Mr. Justice Thakker said that the Division Bench, comprising Justice Abhay Oak, wanted action to be taken on the basis of the SIT report. Mr. Vahanvaty suggested that it be placed before the Chief Minister for action. The court accepted the proposal.

The Bench returned the report to the Advocate-General and directed that it be submitted to the Chief Minister who should consider it, apply his mind and take appropriate decision. The Court also asked Mr. Shinde to hear Mr. Sharma if he decided to take action against the latter. The Government has to inform the court during the next hearing on November 27 about the action taken.

The Bench is hearing public interest litigations filed by the anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare. It directed the SIT on October 15 to probe allegations that Mr. Sharma, as the Pune Police Commissioner, had deliberately botched up the investigation and allowed tainted officers to continue with the probe against the alleged scamster, Abdul Karim Telgi, and his associates.

V.R. Manohar, counsel for Mr. Sharma, doubted if any action could be taken on the basis of the SIT report since another report had been submitted earlier by a comparatively junior officer, Subodh Jaiswal. Mr. Vahanvaty pointed out that Mr. Puri had investigated the matter on his own and had extensively interrogated Mr. Sharma and had covered all aspects.

The court refused to oblige the petitioners, who wanted copies of the confidential SIT report.

The Advocate-General said it was being ascertained if the Nashik Security Press had created any artificial shortage of stamp papers to help Telgi. Also, the suspended Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mohammad Mulani, and the Inspector, Prakash Deshmukh, were likely to be arrested soon. Mr. Mulani is supposed to have demanded a huge bribe from Telgi.

The Karnataka Government Counsel, B.R. Nanjundariah, told the court that 14 CDs, containing 100 hours of 1,300 telephonic talks recorded by the Karnataka police, had been handed over to the SIT on Monday. Mr. Vahanvaty submitted that the SIT needed time to listen to the CDs and file its report.

Mr. Shinde refused to comment on the court's directives, but said that he was planning several measures to revamp the police force in Maharashtra.

Mahesh Vijapurkar reports:

The Maharashtra Governor, Mohamed Fazal, has asked Mr. Shinde to consider a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the scam.

Mr. Fazal — who met the Opposition leaders, Narayan Rane and Nitin Gadkari and the Deputy Chief Minister, Chagan Bhujbal — suggested that a CBI probe may give more credibility to the investigation.

Mr. Fazal sent a written communication in this regard to Mr. Shinde before he left for New Delhi for a series of meetings, including one possibly with the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani.

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