Mumbai: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner,
Julio Ribeiro, has dashed off a letter to state government
expressing surprise over the appointment of four `tainted`
senior IPS officers.
The letter written on April 15 and addressed to Home
Minister R R Patil not only questions the appointment of Joint
Commissioner of Police Himanshu Roy, Additional CP (North
Region) Ramrao Pawar, Deputy CPs Ajit Patil (Zone 12) and
Sanjay Banerjee (Zone 11) to sensitive posts but also alleges
that they have a reputation for "greed and corruption".
Ribeiro, who runs Public Concern for Governance Trust, an
anti-corruption NGO, said that he had written the letter
keeping police reforms and operational freedom in mind.
"I read in the newspapers that in Maharashtra Assembly
these four policemen were criticised for their professional
misconduct. Still they managed to get key postings which is
very surprising and unfortunate," he said.
"Many people came to me and levelled corruption
allegations about these four tainted policemen. I have brought
this issue to the notice of Home Department and we as an NGO
would continue to do this," said Rebeiro, who was Director
General of Punjab Police during its worst years of terrorism. "The chief of crime branch should be unquestionable but
the politicians and police are taking people for a ride,"
Ribeiro added.
Politicians were interfering in appointing each and every
police official, he said adding even junior level officers
were also appointed with blessings of politicians.
"The four cops, whom I named in my letter have god
fathers following which they became untouchable," Rebeiro
alleged and demanded that the appointments should be done in a
free and fair manner so that citizens get right police officer
to protect them.
When contacted Jt CP (Crime) Himanshu Roy said, "I do not
even have the knowledge about the letter and nobody told me
about it. Home Department has not informed me anything about
it."
Additional CP RamRao Pawar said, "I do not know what the
allegations are. So I do not want to say anything on the
matter." The other two DCPs refused to comment.
PTI
