Fadnavis arrest ‘plot’: Maha top cop pushed for case against ex-DGP Sanjay Pandey
Former DGP Rashmi Shukla's pre-retirement report recommends FIRs against ex-DGP Sanjay Pandey and two others. They are accused of conspiring to implicate Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde in a 2016 ULC certificates scam. Shukla's report details alleged pressure on a businessman to falsely implicate the leaders.
MUMBAI: Just four days before her retirement on Jan 3, former DGP Rashmi Shukla submitted a report to the state home department saying an offence should be registered against ex-DGP and former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey, along with two other police officers, for conspiring to arrest Devendra Fadnavis, who was opposition leader, and Eknath Shinde, who was UD minister, during the tenure of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) govt.An SIT was formed to probe the issue raised in the assembly by MLC Pravin Darekar, and it submitted its report to the govt. Shukla was asked to submit her opinion on the report. Pandey declined to comment.The SIT had investigated the allegation of a criminal conspiracy to implicate Fadnavis and Shinde in an urban land ceiling (ULC) certificates scam case. The scam pertained to builders who allegedly submitted bogus ULC certificates and were exempted from surrendering 5% excess land to govt.
During the MVA govt’s tenure, Thane police investigated businessman Sanjay Punamia, who was in a dispute with his business partner Shaymsundar Agarwal, in the scam.
Afterwards, Punamia had alleged he was pressured to give a statement against Fadnavis and Shinde in the ULC scam.Shukla suggested the govt register an FIR against Pandey and police officers Laxmikant Patil and Sardar Patil for criminal conspiracy, a public servant disobeying the law, fabricating false evidence, and threatening a person to give a false statement, for conspiring to implicate Fadnavis and Shinde in an old case registered in Thane in 2016.
Laxmikant Patil, then DCP, crime, Thane, used a govt vehicle to visit Mantralaya, Vidhan Bhavan, the office of the DGP and Sahyadri guest house in Mumbai, but instead of mentioning the exact location of those offices, on his instructions, his drivers wrote only “Mumbai” in the vehicle’s log book, which created suspicion about his behaviour. It was alleged that Laxmikant Patil exerted pressure on the accused and witnesses.
It was also stated that Shukla found that while Punamia was in police custody in a case registered in 2021 in Thane, Patil interrogated him regarding the ULC scam case and pressurised him to give a false statement that Fadnavis extorted money from builders in the ULC scam case.