Lost — file of the only on-going case against Thackeray

Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who also holds the home portfolio, confirmed that the relevant file is untraceable. “When I asked my department for it, I was told the file is not traceable. Subsequently, we collected the information from the Dadar police station,” Bhujbal said.

It is a serious matter since it contained confidential correspondence, said a senior home department official. “According to procedure, the files are in the custory of the desk officer. It’s the responsibility of the concerned desk officer to keep a record of file movement. Since it appears to be a serious lapse on the part of one of the officials of the home department, we will have to conduct a highlevel inquiry to fix the responsibility,” the official said.

Typically, home department in Mantralaya, the state headquarters, is hardly a place that files can disappear from. Every piece of paper is valued and kept away carefully. Of all the thousands of files gathering dust in the department drawers, this all-too-important file should be missing at this juncture has raised eyebrows.

The official said the search for the file began after Samajwadi Party leader and Advocate A Majeed Memon asked the Congress-led Democratic Front government to treat SP President Abu Asim Azmi and Thackeray’s cases on par. Memon’s contention was that since the Sena was insisting on arresting Azmi for his anti-national remarks, the government should first take action against Thackeray for an offence under section 153 (A) read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code registered against him at the Dadar Police Station in 1993. The offence pertains to creating enmity between two groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, region or language and disturbing communal harmony. The Dadar police had registered an offence against the Shiv Sena chief for his `provocative’ speeches.

Following the memorandum, Bhujbal had asked his department to submit all the files in connection with the cases registered against Thackeray. Barring the one file pertaining to the offence registered at the Dadar Police station, the department submitted all the files to the Deputy Chief Minister. When Bhujbal insisted on the file, the department expressed its inability, saying, it was not traceable.

The Shiv Sena and BJP had brought the House down several times during the last Assembly session insisting that the government arrest Azmi for his allegedly incendiary remarks at a rally in city (he had said he didn’t care if the country was another partition). And the Samata Party, an ally of the Congress-led Democratic Front government, argued that if Azmi needed to be jailed, Thackeray should also be given similar treatment as a case was already pending against him. That was when Bhujbal asked for the file and realised it was missing.