Former DGP Rashmi Shukla submitted a report to govt just 4 days before her retirement on Jan 3 against ex-DGP and former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey for conspiring to arrest Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde during the tenure of the Uddhav Thackeray govt

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 had 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. 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 evidence, threatening a person to give a false statement, and for conspiring to implicate Fadnavis and Shinde in an old case registered in Thane in 2016.

A retired police officer said there is no provision in law where a mere alleged intention to arrest, when no arrest was made, becomes an offence.

Laxmikant Patil, then DCP, crime, Thane, used a govt vehicle to visit Mantralaya, Vidhan Bhavan, office of the DGP and Sahyadri guest house in Mumbai, but instead of mentioning the exact location, his drivers wrote only "Mumbai" in the vehicle's log book. It was also alleged Laxmikant Patil exerted pressure on the accused and witnesses.

It was further said Shukla found that while Punamia was in custody in a 2021 case registered in Thane, Patil interrogated him regarding the ULC scam and pressurised him to give a false statement that Fadnavis extorted money from builders.

Retired ACP Sardar Patil was investigating the case. The investigating officer conducted a re-investigation on the basis of an application submitted by one Raju Shaha to the then DGP Pandey in May 2021.

The chargesheet in the case was submitted in 2017. The SIT said that on the instruction of Pandey, Laxmikant Patil arranged an appointment for Shaha with him (then DGP) for submission of an application, based on which police started the re-investigation of the Thane case with an intention to implicate Fadnavis and Shinde.

Subsequently, Pandey became Mumbai police commissioner, and he allegedly pressured a junior officer to file charges against Fadnavis in an offence registered with cyber police in BKC. Pandey spent five months in jail after retirement on charges of alleged money laundering. BJP Mumbai president Ameet Satam said there "was an invisible hand which was none other than that of then CM Uddhav Thackeray" behind Pandey's act.