The transfers of IPS officers in the state on Tuesday turned out to be an exercise in cleaning up the system of controversial officers as well.
Some officers who had come under a cloud recently have been shunted from executive postings to what is generally termed as “side postings” or “punishment postings” in the force.
The state government on Tuesday transferred two of the deputy commissioners of police, Ajit Patil and Sanjay Banerjee, whom former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro had termed as “tainted” in a letter written to home minister R.R. Patil.
According to home department sources, Mr Patil has been transferred as the DCP of the state CID from DCP, Zone 12, and Mr Banerjee as the DCP of CRPF, Daund, from DCP, Zone 11.
These are among the 35 transfers and promotions of senior IPS officers that were announced on Tuesday.
Further, DCP, Thane city police, Mr Ashok Deshbhratar, has been transferred as deputy commissioner of railways. Mr Deshbhratar had recently come under fire, after a CID report had allegedly found several discrepancies in his interrogation of Hasan Ali, a Pune-based race horse owner who is alleged to have links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Based on the report, the state had ordered an inquiry against the officer. In April, Mr Ribeiro had dashed off a letter to the Maharashtra government expressing his surprise over the appointment of four “tainted” senior IPS officers to key posts. The letter, addressed to the home minister, not only questioned the appointment of DCPs Ajit Patil (Zone 12) and Sanjay Banerjee (Zone 11), but also alleged that they had a reputation for “greed and corruption”.
Mr Ribeiro, who runs the Public Concern for Governance Trust, an anti-corruption NGO, had written the letter keeping in mind police reforms and operational freedom. The former commissioner had alleged that politicians were interfering in the process of appointing each and every police official.