A senior inspector of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch was shifted to a “side posting” following allegations that he had demanded money from a man arrested in a case. Sunil Mane was shifted from the post of senior inspector of unit X to the Modus Operandi Bureau (MOB) – considered to be a side or unimportant posting. The complainant in the case, who had been arrested for cheating, has also made allegations against two other officers. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Santosh Rastogi said, “An inquiry has been ordered to look into the allegations.” Maintaining that Mane has not been transferred but “but moved within the crime branch”, he said the reason behind the move was “administrative”. The police said the complainant was arrested in connection with a “rice pulling” racket, where people were cheated on the pretext of being sold “rice puller” metal devices in February. On March 5, the complainant was remanded in judicial custody and released on bail on April 22, a day after a chargesheet was filed against him and three others. After being released on bail, the complainant, through his lawyer K H Giri, wrote to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, the Mumbai Police commissioner and JCP (Crime). Giri said that the complainant has alleged that last December, he had paid Rs 18.5 lakh to a crime branch officer, who threatened to arrest him in connection with the racket. “He made the payment, as he did not want to get involved in a police matter. The payment was made through a network of police informers. In January, however, some police informants contacted him again and said that unit X had found evidence against him and was demanding Rs 50 lakh. This time, the complainant refused to pay.” The crime branch went on to arrest him on February 25, along with three others. Giri alleged that the complainant taken was to another senior crime branch officer “who demanded Rs 1 crore and threatened to torture him” if the money was not paid. “ Later, he was brought back to unit X, where Mane is alleged to have negotiated with him on reducing the amount,” Giri added. When contacted, Mane said: “Is such a thing even possible? If a chargesheet has been filed, we have also provided evidence. There is not question of just framing anyone. The allegations are baseless.” Giri, however, claimed that JCP Rastogi had met the family members of the complainant and assured them of a probe. Five days after the meeting, on Thursday, an order was issued moving Mane to MOB and the charge of unit X was handed over to Inspector Namdev Shinde. Kedari Pawar, who was earlier the senior inspector of MOB, has been moved to Property Cell. Giri said, “Since the joint commissioner has taken positive action, we will wait for a few days to see if proper action is taken. If we are not satisified, we will move HC.”
