Reinstated IPS officer Saurabh Tripathi appointed SID deputy commissioner

The primary duty of SID is to collect intelligence related to any anti-national elements while it also advises the government in its policy-making decision. In 2022, the Mumbai Police had booked senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla for allegedly tapping phone conversations of NCP leader Eknath Khadse and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, when she was heading the SID.

Tripathi was posted as the deputy commissioner of police (zone II) in Mumbai when an FIR was registered against him last year at LT Marg police station. Along with him, three other cops were also booked and arrested in the extortion case on March 16.

Inspector Om Wangate, who was among those alleged to have extorted Rs 19 lakh from angadias in South Mumbai, revealed during interrogation that they acted on Tripathi’s instructions. Following Wangate’s statement, Tripathi’s name was added on March 9, 2022.

The case was registered at LT Marg police station on February 18, 2022, based on the complaint of Bhuleshwar Angadia Association. Along with Wangate, Inspector Nitin Kadam and Assistant Inspector Samadhan Jamdade were charged with sections dealing with extortion, robbery and wrongful restraint of the Indian Penal Code.

A preliminary inquiry by the then Additional Commissioner of Police (south) found that in the first week of December 2021, the trio allegedly extorted Rs 19 lakh from angadias in South Mumbai, threatening them of reporting to the Income Tax department, the FIR said.

Tripathi, the then DCP, went missing the next day and appeared before the cops for interrogation based on court orders in November 2022.

Tripathi was subsequently reinstated by the government in January but was not allocated any posting.