Ex-Pune Police Commissioner says Ajit Pawar asked her to handover 3 acres prime police land; she did not.

This is one of the many controversial episodes Borwankar has narrated in her book ‘Madam Commissioner’ published by Pan Macmillan and to be released on Sunday. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, however, denied his involvement, and said the District Guardian Minister did not have the authority to auction land.

In the book, Borwankar doesn’t mention the name of the “district minister”, but refers to him as “dada”. When contacted, she told The Sunday Express, “Dada means Ajit Pawar and he was the district guardian minister also at that time.”

‘Madam Commissioner’ published by Pan Macmillan and to be released on Sunday. (Amazon)

Pawar told this newspaper, “I have never been involved in any auction of the land. In fact, I am opposed to such auctions. Besides, the District Guardian Minister does not have the authority to auction land. We can’t sell all such (govt) lands. Such issues go before the Revenue Department which places it before the state cabinet. The cabinet takes the final decision. It decides the value of the land as per the ready reckoner rate. Therefore, I want to state I am not related to this matter in anyway… You can check with officials how I always take the government side in such matters. I don’t care even if there is pressure on me.”

When contacted, Prithviraj Chavan, who was the Chief Minister then, said, “I will have to see the records before commenting on the matter.”

In the chapter titled “The Minister”, Borwankar writes, “Having recently taken over as the commissioner of police in Pune, I was getting acquainted with the crime scenarios at different police stations and meeting the officers. On one of those days, I received a call from the divisional commissioner that the district minister had asked for me and I should see him the day after, in the morning. ….He also mentioned that the issue of the Yerawada police station land needed to be discussed.”

“…I met the district minister in the divisional commissioner’s office. He had a huge paper map of the area with him. He explained that the auction had been successfully concluded and I should proceed to hand over the land to the top bidder. I replied that as Yerawada had become literally the centre of Pune, the police would never get such prime land in future. And that we needed it to construct more offices as well as residential quarters for the police. I added that having recently taken over, giving police land to a private party would be perceived as the new police commissioner having sold herself out. But the minister simply overruled me and insisted that I complete the process, which he declared was over,” she wrote.

Further, Borwankar wrote in the book, “Unhappy with his instructions, I asked him politely why my predecessor – the previous police commissioner – had not handed over the land if the auction had already concluded. I even said that the process itself was flawed in my opinion, and against the interest of the police department. It would just not be possible for me to relinquish such a prime piece of police land to a private party when we ourselves needed it, I told him gently but with finality. The minister lost his cool and hurled the map at the glass table.”