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Booked under Act he declined to use against Telgi

By Arunkumar Bhatt

MUMBAI DEC. 1. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) today arrested the former Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Ranjit Singh Sharma, under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MOCA) for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam.

Ironically, Mr. Sharma had turned down a proposal to book Abdul Karim Telgi, prime accused in the scam, under the same Act when he was the Police Commissioner of Pune. He has now been booked for allegedly conniving to protect Telgi.

SIT sources said Mr. Sharma would be produced before the MOCA court in Pune to secure police custody of him so that he can be interrogated by the SIT, Pune branch. The arrested Joint Commissioner (Intelligence), Sridhar Wagal, now lodged in the Yeravada Jail in Pune, is already being interrogated by SIT in police custody.

Mr. Sharma's detention comes at the end of a marathon questioning by the SIT chief, Sukhvinder Singh Puri, a retired Director-General of Police specially empowered by the Mumbai High Court to probe the scam.

Mr. Suri had told the Division Bench of the Mumbai High Court, comprising Chief Justice, C.K. Thakker and Justice, Abhay Oak, last week that the SIT would question the former police commissioner to corroborate the telephonic conversations of Telgi recorded by the Karnataka police. The SIT had heard two of the 16 CDs containing over 1,200 conversations of Telgi handed over to it by the Karnataka police as ordered by the High Court. Mr. Sharma, an officer of 1968 batch of the Indian Police Service, retired on Sunday, the day he was interrogated for the fourth time. He did not attend the farewell dinner hosted by the IPS Officers' Association. The Deputy Chief Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, who also holds the Home portfolio, kept away from the media today probably to avoid making a statement on the arrest of Mr. Sharma, to whom he had given a clean chit on the issue some time ago. Mr. Bhujbal had been instrumental in getting him appointed to the coveted post of Mumbai Police Commissioner a year ago. The Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, however, said the arrest was a step taken by the SIT and that the Government was not involved in it. It was to Mr. Shinde that the High Court had forwarded on November 12 the SIT's confidential report on Mr. Sharma. The judges had asked him to take suitable action and keep the court informed.

Mr. Sharma first went on leave and was later transferred to the post of Additional Director-General of Police (Administration) in the State Headquarters and then as chief vigilance officer in the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation. A departmental inquiry was instituted against him and he was chargesheeted on November 25.

PTI reports:

Hours after the arrest of the former Mumbai Police Commissioner, R.S. Sharma, in the multi-crore fake stamp paper case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) today conducted a search at his residence here tonight, SIT sources said. Mr. Sharma's official residence, near Mantralaya, was being jointly searched by the SIT and the Anti-Corruption Bureau teams.

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