The Justice KU Chandiwal Commission, which was appointed to look into allegations against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, submitted a 201-page report to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday.
Mr. Chandiwal personally submitted the report to Mr. Thackeray in the presence of Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil. The report is of 201 pages without annexures. It runs up to 1,400 pages. It was prepared in one and a half months.
The commission examined and cross-examined Mr. Deshmukh, Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik (currently at the Arthur Road Jail), former police commissioner of Mumbai Param Bir Singh, suspended police officer Sachin Vaze and other police officers.
It had issued two bailable warrants against Mr. Singh as he failed to appear before it and imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on Mr. Deshmukh for seeking an adjournment.
Vaze’s deposition
During the hearing, Mr. Vaze deposed that he was recording the statements of witnesses and tracing suspects/accused for the police department pan India even during his suspension for 16 years because of his uprightness and performance. Mr. Singh had filed an affidavit before the commission that said, “He has no first-hand information about anything that transpired with Mr. Deshmukh and all the allegations made by him are hearsay.”
The commission was set up last year by the government to inquire into the allegations made by Mr. Singh in a letter he wrote to Mr. Thackeray on March 20, 2021. The letter has mentioned several instances where Mr. Deshmukh directed Mr. Vaze (currently lodged at the Taloja Central Jail) to collect ₹100 crore a month from bars and restaurants.
The matter was also heard by the Bombay High Court, which had directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Mr. Deshmukh into the corruption allegations. The Enforcement Directorate soon stepped in to probe charges of money laundering and he was arrested in November 2021.
