Mumbai, Nov 14: The government has placed under suspension Sridhar Vagal, Joint Commissioner of Police (Intelligence), held under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for his alleged complicity in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam. The government order suspending Vagal with immediate effect was issued yesterday, V N Deshmukh, Additional Director General of Police and Police Commissioner (Intelligence) told newspersons.

Deshmukh said that if a government officer was placed under arrest for more than 48 hours, he is suspended forthwith. In this case, Deshmukh said, Special Investigating Team (SIT), probing the scam, informed government about Vagal's arrest and he was suspended.
Vagal, holding the rank of inspector general of police and the first IPS officer to be booked under the stringent MCOCA, has been remanded to judicial custody till November 27.
He was arrested on November 7 in Mumbai for his alleged role in "shielding" the prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi and granting him special favours.
Vagal's arrest comes after Mumbai High Court appointed former Director General of Police S S Puri to head the SIT set up to probe the scam.

Vagal is accused of misusing and abusing his position when he was the joint commissioner of police to ensure that Telgi was not punished.

He is also charged with fabricating evidence to save Telgi and is alleged to have received Rs 72 lakh from Telgi through a police officer who has also been arrested.

Bureau Report