NCP opposed Borwankar’s transfer to CID, I had to follow ‘coalition dharma’: former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan

Asked whether the NCP had cited any reason to deny Borwankar the CID posting, Chavan said, “The NCP did not give any reason, but conveyed its opposition to the CID posting.”

”Borwankar was the Pune police commissioner. When it was decided to transfer, I called her up and asked where she would like to be posted. She said she wanted to be posted in Pune. I wanted to accommodate her in Pune. But we (the Congress and NCP) could not reach an agreement on accommodating Borwankar in Pune. The NCP did not agree…and did not cite any reason,” Chavan said.

It may be noted that Ajit Pawar was part of the undivided NCP at the time. It was only in July this year that he led a breakaway faction of the party to join the BJP-Shinde Sena combine in the Maharashtra government.

Asked about the Yerawada land auction case and Borwankar’s allegation that it was done at the behest of the “district minister”, Chavan once again reiterated that it (auction) was done before he took over as chief minister. “I have no knowledge about it… The auction and tendering process was done before I took over… The papers did not come to me.”

In her book, ‘Madam Commissioner: The Extraordinary Life of an Indian Police Chief’, Borwankar wrote, ”In June 2012, I received a phone call from then chief minister’s office, asking if I had any preference for the next posting. I mentioned that the post of the additional director general at CID Pune was going to be vacant and I could be considered for it as I had worked there as superintendent and inspector general.”

“A few days later, the chief minister himself called me and said, ‘I cannot post you at the CID. They have made it a prestige point and we have to abide by the coalition dharma. If you want to continue in Pune for family reasons, please identify any other post.’ I of course understood who ‘they’ were. Some officers told me that many cases against powerful builders under the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act were pending investigation with the CID, as a result of which ‘you would never be posted there’,” she wrote.

Asked about the alleged attempts made to dispose of a prime piece of police land in Yerawada to a builder at a cheaper rate, Chavan said, ”Instead of carrying out such exchange deals, the land should be sold so that we come to know what price it has been sold for. In such barter systems, we do not come to know who is benefitting and by how much.”
Borwankar, in her book, has alleged that the prime piece of three-acre land in Yerawada was auctioned after which the then “district minister”, whom she has since named as Ajit Pawar, summoned her to hand it over to the private builder. She said she strongly opposed it and therefore the deal could not go through and the land remained with the government. Ajit Pawar has refuted the allegation.