Took cognisance of complaint, wrote to DGP office to regularise it for police welfare: GRP chief

His statement was part of the 3,299-page chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police SIT against the four accused. The chargesheet contains the statements of both Shisve and former GRP Commissioner Quaiser Khalid.

An official said Khalid, in his statement, said while the hoarding was approved during his tenure, Shisve allowed the hoardings to stand even after four complaints had been received.

Shisve, who was appointed GRP Commissioner in December 2022, had said that only one complaint was put up before him. He attended to the complaint and wrote to the DGP office recommending that the hoarding be regularized as the hoarding company was contributing to police welfare, the chargesheet says.

The DGP office, however, wrote back to Shisve raising several issues with the authorisation as it did not follow norms of the 2016 policy formulated by the Maharashtra government on hoardings.

The letter further said there could be other ways of ensuring funds for police welfare. Shisve wrote back to DGP office clarifying the issues raised by the DGP office. However, the permission was not granted, says the chargesheet.

In their probe, the police have also found that BPCL, which was running the petrol pump on lease, was in the process of awarding the contract for the fourth hoarding to another company as it came on petrol pump land.

“Bhinde however came to know about the same and told Khalid, the then GRP Commissioner that if his company – Ego media was given the contract by GRP, they would contribute to police welfare as per norms. Following this, Khalid intervened and the contract was given to Bhinde for the fourth hoarding,” the chargesheet says.