Centre is to be blamed, says Bhujbal

MUMBAI, Oct 5: Maharashtra's deputy chief minister and Home minister, Chhagan Bhujbal has squarely blamed the Centre for making a mess of ...

MUMBAI, Oct 5: Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister and Home minister, Chhagan Bhujbal has squarely blamed the Centre for making a mess of the Chhota Rajan extradition episode. He said “complete non-cooperation from the Centre” denied the Mumbai police the Rajan’s custody.

Bhujbal said immediately after the attack on Rajan, his government was seeking his extradition. “As a first step, on the Centre’s request we sent Rajan’s fingerprints which were forwarded to the Thai police. The fingerprints matched those of Vijay Daman — Rajan’s assumed name — thus firmly establishing the fact that Daman was actually Rajan. We then officially began communication with the centre on his extradition because we as a state government have locus standi to deal with other governments,”Bhujbal said.

Some police officials suggested that a special team be sent to Bangkok firstly to gather more information on the attack and to be around when the extradition actually happened. “We set up a team and as per procedure obtained permissions from the Ministries of Home, External and and Economic Affairs. However, just hours before the team’s departure, Special Home Secretary M B Kaushal called up Additional Chief Secretary (Home) M R Patil to inform the permission was being withdrawn. I don’t know why,” Bhujbal said.

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Even Police Commissioner M N Singh, on an official visit to New Delhi on September 27, had talks with the senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs. “He discussed the Chhota Rajan episode with them and suggested a team of Mumbai cops be sent to Delhi to assist the authorities in preparing the extradition papers. He was asked to send a team but by the time Singh returned to Mumbai, he was asked not to send the team,” he said.

Firstly, Bhujbal said, there was no reason to cancel the permissions and secondly, even if the Centre wanted additional information, it should have asked for the same rather than stall the visit. “Since the Bangkok police had set the deadline, the visit of the team should not have been stalled by the Centre,” he said.

“Official records will prove that we have provided all the information necessary fot the Centre to act. But, for unknown reasons, the Centreshowed complete non-cooperation.”

Bhujbal said ever since the Chhota Rajan episode, there was complete non-cooperation from the centre. “In fact, on several occasions, we have provided more information to the centre, despite lack of resources,” he remarked.