In another massive twist to the Antilia bomb scare case on Saturday, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh made an explosive accusation against the Maharashtra government. In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, he alleged that Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had ordered Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore per month from various businesses in Mumbai.
However, soon after the letter went viral, Congress supporter and Rahul Gandhi loyalist Saket Gokhale tried to float conspiracy theory that the BJP IT cell was behind the letter, because why would Parambir Singh refer to himself with ‘Shri’ salutation.
The IPS officer, who was transferred as the Commandant General of Home Guards only recently, sent a letter to Maharashtra CM making explosive allegations against the Home Minister. The letter by Parambir Singh raised several questions regarding the whole Antilia Bomb Scare case and the death of businessman Mansukh Hiren whose car was used to place bombs outside Ambani residence.
As Parambir Singh’s letter caused havoc in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, the supporters of the Maharashtra coalition government soon descended on social media platforms to reject all the allegations made by him. They even questioned the authenticity of Singh’s letter.
As the letter was not signed and Parambir Singh respectfully addressed himself as ‘Shri’, Saket Gokhale declared that the letter was fake. Incidentally, the assertion of Saket Gokhale had come despite Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had issued a statement confirming Parambir Singh’s letter.
However, it was soon revealed that Parambir Singh had indeed written the letter to Maharashtra CM.
Ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh ends speculation, confirms that the e-mailed letter to the CM is indeed his own & that signed copy will reach the Maharashtra Govt shortly. @IndiaToday
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) March 20, 2021
Caught on a back foot, Gokhale then decided to float another conspiracy theory that Anil Deshmukh is now being ‘targeted’ because of some alleged scam he promised to investigate.
The *real* reason Fadnavis is targeting Maharashtra Home Minister @AnilDeshmukhNCP is because he ordered a probe in this scam which involves Fadnavis’ OSD & advisor Kaustubh Dhavse.
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) March 21, 2021
Sadly, there are people close to the CM who are protecting Dhavse without his knowledge. pic.twitter.com/a6W6sEnlTH
Congress supporter and Rahul Gandhi’s ardent fan – Saket Gokhale, known for peddling conspiracy theories in the past.
The conspiracy theories peddled by Saket Gokhale were also echoed by several people sympathetic towards the Maharashtra government to dismiss corruption charges against the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had himself raised questions on the authenticity of the letter saying it was not duly signed by Parambir Singh and was also sent via a Gmail account.
Since the unsigned letter was not sent by his official account, Uddhav Thackeray said that it was possible that the letter was fake and they were ‘trying to contact Parambir Singh’ to authenticate the letter.
Anil Deshmukh acknowledges letter, says he will file defamation
Following the allegations, Anil Deshmukh acknowledged the authenticity of the letter by not only denying the allegations made against him by Parambir Singh but also said that he would file a defamation case against former Mumbai Police Commissioner for making false accusations. Singh has accused Deshmukh of ordering Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore per month from various businesses in Mumbai.
Mainstream media, too, reported the signed copy of the letter that was sent again to Uddhav Thackeray was indeed by Parambir Singh. Essentially, the conspiracy theory peddled by Saket Gokhale accusing BJP of circulating the letter was punctured by Parambir Singh himself as he accepted that he had written such a letter.
Parambir Singh’s letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister
In an explosive letter, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh alleged that Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had ordered Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore per month from various businesses in Mumbai.
The IPS officer, which was the Mumbai Police Commissioner till last few days, sent a letter to Maharashtra CM making explosive allegations against the Home Minister. The copies of the letter were also sent to the deputy chief minister, additional chief secretary of the home ministry and the governor’s office.
The letter seems to be triggered by the comments of the Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on the issue, who on March 18 had said that Parambir Singh’s transfer was not a routine transfer. Deshmukh had said Singh was removed from the post as he had committed serious mistakes. Responding to these claims made by the Home Minister, Parambir Singh has made several allegations against him.
In the letter, the former police commissioner said that after the Antilia incident, he had pointed out to the CM several misdeeds and malpractices being indulged into by the Home Minister. Parambir Singh alleged that Sachin Vaze was called by Anil Deshmukh to his official residence Dyaneshwar several times in the last few months and repeatedly instructed to assist in the collection of funds. “The Hon’ble Home Minister expressed to Shri Vaze that he had a target to accumulate Rs. 100 crores a month”, said the letter.
Further, the letter said that the Home Minister had even advised Vaze how to achieve this target of collecting Rs 100 crore per month. He had explained that there are about 1,750 bars, restaurants and other establishments in Mumbai, and if a sum of Rs. 2-3 lakhs each was collected from each of them, a monthly collection of Rs. 40-50 crore was achievable.
Anil Deshmukh had said that the rest of the fund can be collected from “other sources”, according to Parambir Singh. He added that Sachin Vaze came to his office on the same day and informed about the instructions of the Home Minister, and says that he was shocked hearing this and was mulling how to deal with the situation.
In the letter, Parambir Singh also said that Anil Deshmukh wanted to interfere in the case of suicide of Lok Sabha MP Mohan Delkar, to achieve political mileage. The MP from Dadra & Nagar Haveli was found dead on February 22, and he had left a suicide note where he had alleged harassment by senior officers of the Dadra & Nagar Haveli administration as the cause of the suicide.
