No, transferring Param Bir Singh is not the answer to failed Governance

Parambir Singh was finally transferred - transferred not suspended. Will he end up in NIA offices? Will this ‘smart move’ absolve Maha Vikas Aghadi of its immeasurable sins of omission and commission? Definitely, not. Anil Deshmukh, the home minister of Maharashtra has today admitted that there were serious lapses on part of ex Mumbai Police Commissioner regarding Antilia bomb scare case. Sorry, we will not detracted by the story of Antilia shenanigans in isolation.

 

But, let us begin from Antilia, anyways. The mess was created by a junior officer, Sachin Waze, who was brought back into Maharashtra police by the political leadership of MVA, i.e. Shiv Sena CM Uddhav Thackeray. The excuse given was that there was shortage of officers. However, there is no information about reinstatement of other officers suspended for the same case with lesser criminal charges. Mr. Waze seems to the be favoured child of fate. Sachin Waze was a Shiv Sena leader in his spare time.

 

 

Earlier CM Devendra Fadnavis had refused to reinstate him despite repeated request from Shiv Sena leaders. This is the reason why the sacrificial goat, Mr. Parambir Singh couldn’t question his flamboyant junior officer about the luxurious cars he drove, and parked in his office compound. Was Parambir so short of hands that he handed over all the crucial files to Sachin Waze on his own – right from Republic TV to Kangana Ranaut to Antilia Bomb scare et al? If not, then one can safely surmise is that the current law and order mess and misgovernance is the making of the political leadership, not a police failure? Definitely, Mumbai and we the people had survived for 17 years without a Waze till the new government that cheated the people’s mandate came in.

 

Now, let us move back to Point Zero, the beginning of the fall of Maharashtra from the best administered state to the worst. We have a Home Minister of Maharashtra who seemed to have little patience for the Palghar Sadhus’ lynching, who didn’t get upset with the police for poor investigation of Sushant Singh Rajput, who quietly oversaw the overdrive of police against Kangana Ranaut, who did not take strong action to control Covid spread; has had the time to take press conference and indirectly threaten the celebrities, two of whom are Bharat Ratnas, on the issue of similar sounding tweets of eminent personalities in the favour of our nation and against the advocates of anarchy!

 

 

Maharashtra was the worst performer during Covid crises, and it still is, as the second wave builds up; but the government had time and energy to ‘influence’ celebrities to proclaim that Maharashtra had the best CM. The Home Minister did not chide nor did he take action against the police officers in Palghar for delaying the filing of Charge Sheets against more than 100 ‘accused’ that caused the courts to release them. Sadhus are dispensable so is media. The government was more concerned about negative press over Sushant Singh Rajput than solving the crime. This one eyed approach led to destruction of evidence. Who cares? These weren’t serious enough an issues for the government. Drug assuming epidemic proportions was not a serious issue for the police commissioner to be suspended or removed. Who faced the vengeful wrath of the state government at the behest of the politicians? Not the police officers but Republic TV managers and reporters and social media activists!

 

The Home Minister watched helplessly or happily (we don’t know) as the most celebrated editor of the most successful channel, viz Arnab Goswami was dragged out of his home, pushed around and jailed by the same Sachin Waze despite court orders restraining the arrest of this editor. His police went on a rampage arresting the managers and reporters of the Republic TV as if they were criminals. We had a police commissioner, more curious about private chats not crimes. The Mumbai Police Commissioner had time to conduct press conferences on what was essential a corporate war between two channels and victimized one channel while the accusation was on the other channel. Was Parambir Singh’s conduct honourable then? Like political leader, with a proverbial kiss of a princess turned tainted junior police officer into politician and turned back again into a police officer, commissioner knew that it is better to do the bidding of the political masters and let the junior do what he has been asked to do.

 

 

Antilia Bomb scare case is not an ordinary case. It is the most shocking act of chicanery. It shows that someone in police force played terrorist or played into the hands of terrorists, even if unwittingly. When you plant fatal gelatine sticks, in all probability with the help of some terrorists who know how to procure them, you dare not do it unless you are sure of political backing. You know it is very very dangerous play with the law. You don’t direct a chilling murder drama to get a person killed and ask your colleagues to declare it as a suicide. You don’t ask your friends in police department to manipulate the evidence of CCTV footage blatantly to save your skin; unless you know someone in political leadership will protect you. You don’t roam around in luxury cars unless you know that there are big bosses who will keep the commissioner of police silent. The very thought that an officer can assume such a backing even if it was not there, is chilling. This is how a so-called Scotland Yard level department becomes a caricature of a Bollywood potboiler gangster movie because it feels helpless against a political leadership’s vengeful whip.

 

Citizens of this once progressive and number one state, Maharashtra, are not dumb to buy the story that Mr. Parambir Singh made one serious mistake, and that with his transfer (not suspension) Maharashtra police will regain its glory. A look at Maharashtra in the last few months clearly shows that politics of the state has brought us to this sorry state of affairs. An officer in jail and another in dog-house will not solve the problem. Political leaders’ heads must roll. Political leadership is answerable for letting lose such police officers on the ordinary citizens to cover up for their inefficiency and dubious actions. They must answer the citizens of Maharashtra - why they let the state decline to this level.

 

ALSO READ- Chronology of events doesn't really match up, does it? Document reveals Deshmukh traveled to Mumbai in a private plane 

 

How so ever we may detest the way Mr. Parambir Singh and Mr. Sachin Waze acted; they are not the main culprits. Waze is supposed to have confessed that he is just a small part of the dubious Antilia case, there are other bigger people involved. Culprits who made them dance like puppets on the string must be exposed and made to face the music.

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