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Journalism of Courage
Days after Dr Parvinder Singh Pasricha8217;s abrupt ouster as Mumbai police commissioner, the BJP claims it has damaging 8216;8216;information8217;8217; against the state government to explain his exit.
A day after Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced pre-poll sops worth Rs 1,000 crore, the Opposition strategically listed a string of allegations that Pasricha had to go because he would not buckle under pressure from highly-placed state government officials.
8216;8216;Pasricha8217;s removal was not an administrative move,8217;8217; BJP state president Gopinath Munde told the media today, citing Pasricha8217;s refusal to cooperate in an alleged hawala racket as one reason.
8216;8216;A state level official, higher than a minister8217;s level, had met Pasricha,8217;8217; said Munde, and hastily added that former Home minister Chhagan Bhujbal had nothing to do with this. 8216;8216;He wanted his Pasricha8217;s help in unofficially recovering Rs 150 crore hawala money and Pasricha refused, asking him to file a written complaint and go on the record.8217;8217;
Munde said he will release this person8217;s name after the state government denies it.
On his part, Pasricha refused to be drawn into commenting. 8216;8216;Kindly do not drag me into this,8217;8217; he said, citing professional ethics and declining to comment.
But Munde insisted he had more 8216;8216;information8217;8217; pointing to pressure from higher-ups who squirmed at the attempted clean-up of the police force through a string of transfers. 8216;8216;Pasricha had proposed to suspend encounter specialist Daya Nayak,8217;8217; claimed Munde. 8216;8216;That was not executed.8217;8217;
The former police commissioner had also passed written orders against political phone-tapping, despite government pressure, he claimed.
