On Saturday evening, former Commissioner of Mumbai Police Param Bir Singh wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked controversial cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs. 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other establishments. The letter by Param Bir Singh raises several questions regarding the whole Antilia Bomb Scare case and the death of Mansukh Hiren. Soon, Anil Deshmukh issued a statement denying the allegations.
However, not too long after Anil Deshmukh issued a statement denying the allegations levelled by Param Bir Singh, Uddhav Thackeray reportedly said that the authenticity of the letter itself was under question. Uddhav Thackeray said that the letter was not duly signed by Param Bir 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 Param Bir Singh’ to authenticate the letter.
Uddhav Thackeray in his statement said that the letter was received from [email protected] while the official email ID given by Param Bir to the government was [email protected].
.@CMOMaharashtra is trying to contact Parambir Singh and checking the authenticity of the letter. The letter received from [email protected] email id while official I’d given by Parambir Singh is [email protected] I’d to state govt
— Sudhir Suryawanshi (@ss_suryawanshi) March 20, 2021
@NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/4Fh2P34kj2
However, just as Uddhav Thackeray was setting the ground to deny the authenticity of the letter and thus the allegations made, including the fact that Param Bir had alleged already spoken to the CM about the allegations contained in the letter, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh issued another statement.
प्रसिद्धी पत्रक pic.twitter.com/4qh5ZIP9GD
— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) March 20, 2021
Anil Deshmukh shared a letter today rubbishing the allegations levelled against him by former Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh. In his letter, Deshmukh has accused Singh of hatching a conspiracy to defame him and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
His statement says:
I would like to draw your attention to these points which would demonstrate that Param Bir Singh is lying:- Why was Param Bir Singh silent for so many days after Sachin Vaze’s arrest? Why did he not speak up early? On March 16, when Singh realised that he is going to be removed from the post of Mumbai CP the next day, he tried to hatch a plan against the government. He sent a few questions over Whatsapp to his close aide ASP Sanjay Patil and got favourable answers from him in return. It was a part of a larger plot by Param Bir Singh. Through this, Singh wanted to show the government in a bad light. It is reflected in the impatience that Singh displays in seeking answers from Patil on Whatsapp. If you look at the chat, Singh is constantly prodding Patil to answer the questions asked by him.
On March 18, At the Lokmat event, I said Singh is going to removed from the office on account of serious allegations levelled against him. A day later, in order to save himself, Param Bir Singh yet again tried to use Whatsapp to manufacture evidence and implicate the government. In the entire police force, it is widely known that Sachin Vaze and ASP Sanjay Patil are close to Param Bir Singh. The decision to reinstate Sachin Vaze, who was suspended for 16 years, was taken by Param Bir Singh. Param Bir Singh has made false allegations to save himself.
Param Bir Singh’s allegations are absolutely baseless and he should prove his allegations against me. I am filing a defamation lawsuit against him. Singh says Vaze met and confided in him details of the entire case in Feb itself, then why did he not speak up then? Why was he mum for so many days? When Singh realised he is in trouble with respect to the Antilia bomb scare, he started making false allegations so as to blackmail the government.
In the statement issued by Anil Deshmukh, on his official letterhead no less, Anil Deshmukh essentially acknowledges that the letter was authentic by answering the allegations contained therein, thereby, contradicting the statement of CM Uddhav Thackeray.
The circus, however, did not stop there.
Soon after the statement issued by Anil Deshmukh, in contradiction to the statement issued by Uddhav Thackeray, Param Bir Singh himself told the media that the letter was authentic and that he was sending another copy, duly signed by him, to the government.
The media then reported the signed copy of the letter that was sent again to Uddhav Thackeray by Param Bir Singh, thereby ending the speculations by Uddhav Thackeray himself that the letter might be fake.
Meanwhile, Congress too has jumped on the bandwagon and started asking questions of Sharad Pawar himself.
Sanjay Nirupam said, “If at all, whatever Parambir Singh is saying is truth, question should be asked from Hon Sharad Pawar ji because he is the arcitect of current Maharashtra Govt. Is it what the so called third front is going to do finally ? Congress must take a stand on this issue”.
If at all, whatever Parambir Singh is saying is truth, question should be asked from Hon Sharad Pawar ji because he is the arcitect of current Maharashtra Govt. Is it what the so called third front is going to do finally ?
— Sanjay Nirupam (@sanjaynirupam) March 20, 2021
Congress must take a stand on this issue.#AnilDeshmukh
This comes only weeks after Sanjay Nirupam had crawled back to the graces of the Congress party. Three weeks after Congress President Sonia Gandhi reshuffled the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), four new vice-presidents and 3 additional Parliamentary Board members were appointed. They are: Nana Gavande, Sachin Naik, Sanjay Rathod and Charulatha Tokas (MPCC Vice-Presidents), while Eknath Gaikwad, Sanjay Nirupam and Janardhan Chandurkar — all three ex-Mumbai Regional Congress Committee presidents – are named new Members of MPCC Parliamentary Board. This came 2 years after Sanjay Nirupam was removed as MRCC President in March 2019.
Clearly, the Antilia bomb case in which Sachin Vaze is the prime accused and Param Bir Singh is deeply embroiled as well, the alliance in Maharashtra is on a shaky wicket with Shiv Sena turning against NCP, NCP not communicating with Shiv Sena and Congress apparently turning against NCP and being snide about Shiv Sena as well.
