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Journalism of Courage
Deputy Commissioner of Police and the man who spearheaded Mumbai’s celebrated ‘‘encounter squads’’, Pradip Sawant, was arrested under MCOCA (the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) for alleged involvement in the fake stamp scam on Wednesday night.
Sawant, who led a group of units which gunned down close to 300 gangsters over the past three years, has been charged for not taking action against his subordinate Dilip Kamath in the Telgi stamp racket.
Assistant Police Inspector Kamath, who is under arrest, is accused of letting Abdul Karim Telgi stay in his Cuffe Parade flat between November 2002 and January 2003, during the period when he was supposed to be in Mumbai police custody. Sawant apparently knew Telgi had even been taken to a few swanky Mumbai and Goa hotels and his lodge at Fort Mumbai, but took no action.
Sawant took charge of the elite Crime Branch in 1998, when he was an ACP and when Mumbai’s crime graph was soaring. His strong-arm tactics are believed to have gone a long way in countering the underworld.
The measure of Sawant’s reputation in the police force could be guaged by the size of the media contingent that kept a vigil outside the office of the investigators when the DCP was called for questioning on Wednesday. The road leading to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office in central Mumbai was packed with cameramen and photographers, some perched atop a wall for a better view.
At 3.30 pm, when an unshaven and pale-looking Sawant arrived at the SIT premises in his official Ambassador, he had to almost fight through the crowd of reporters and cameramen to make his way in. This was the fifth time Sawant was called in for questioning in the fake stamp scandal, the second time by the Worli SIT team. He has also been questioned by the Pune branch of the SIT. Wednesday’s round was headed by SIT chief S.S. Puri.
During the current round of questioning, Sawant was reportedly asked why he and Joint Commissioner of Police Sridhar Vagal (also under arrest) asked for the transfer of the fake stamp case to the Crime Branch, where Telgi came under his jurisdiction. Telgi was first arrested by the Sahu Nagar police (Dharavi) in October 2002.
Sawant’s arrest completes the circle that started with Kamath and went up to (now former) commissioner R.S. Sharma. Senior inspector Dattaraya Dhal, Senior Inspector Vashisht Andhale, Vagal and Sharma have also been arrested under MCOCA for their role in the scam.
According to sources, the names of two more DCPs, a former director general and an inspector general have come up during recent investigations.
