Mumbai, Nov 18: Barely four days after beleagured city Police Commissioner R S Sharma went on leave following his indictment by SIT in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, Maharashtra government today shunted him out and replaced him by Additional Director General of Police P S Pasricha. Pasricha, a 1970 batch IPS officer who has obtained doctorate degree on traffic management, swapped post with Sharma's, after Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde convinced NCP president Sharad Pawar and leaders of other constituents of Democratic Front government about his candidature, official sources said.

According to sources, Shinde had a meeting with Pawar and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal to iron out differences before Pasricha's name was cleared. Sharma's transfer is seen as the government action against him for his alleged role in investigations into the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam during his tenure as the Police Commissioner of Pune.

Speaking to newsmen soon after his appointment, Pasricha said his priority would be to restore the "dipping" morale of the police force and also to improve the image of the force which of late had received a dent. He termed as "minor aberrations" the recent incidents that affected the image of Mumbai Police and said these cannot damage the time-proven institution such as Mumbai Police.

Bureau Report