Phone tapping for extortion: Mumbai Police inspector is go-to man for ‘sensitive cases’

Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi in a tussle between the ruling coalition and BJPThe Center, led by a 50-year-old police inspector in Mumbai, has emerged as a key figure in the state government’s probe into key cases which are being seen as “politically sensitive”.

Indian Express It is learned that Mumbai Police’s Sanjay Mohite was chosen by the city’s police commissioner Sanjay Pandey to handle these cases, as he had helped in the investigation, which led to former state Intelligence Department (SID) chief Rashmi Shukla. A 750-page chargesheet was filed against him for allegedly tapping the phone. of Shiv Sena and NCP leaders Sanjay Raut and Eknath Khadse.

According to sources, Mohite has now been entrusted with the investigation of “two other politically sensitive cases” and “an investigation” against a senior IPS officer who was accused of having links with a gangster by a retired officer. has gone.

In mid-May, Mohite was made the investigating officer of the case in which a pen drive was allegedly leaked from the SID last year with “sensitive call recordings” to opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis. Fadnavis later alleged that politicians in the ruling coalition were being busy lobbying by IPS officers for plum postings in exchange for money.

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One FIR In March 2021, a case was registered in the BKC cyber cell against unidentified persons under the Official Secrets Act. The cyber cell was in the final stages of its investigation, recording the statements of 25 people, including former CMs Fadnavis and Shukla, when the probe was conducted. He was suddenly transferred to Mohite last month.

After this Mohite was also directed to handle another case in which a case was registered against the jailed gangster Aegus Lakdawala. The case, which pertains to an alleged extortion of Rs 2 crore made by Lakdawala against a Mumbai hotelier, was being investigated by the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Police’s crime branch – until Mohite was called the Investigating Officer. created.

Mohite has also been entrusted with the investigation into the allegations leveled against the senior IPS officer by a former Assistant Commissioner of Police.

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Apart from these cases, Mohite is part of the Special Investigation Team probing the suicide of Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar. The seven-time MP was found dead in a hotel room in the Marine Drive area on February 22, 2021. An FIR was registered against BJP leader and Union Territory Administrator Praful Khoda Patel as well as IAS and IPS officers on the alleged charges. Provoke

Mohite is currently the Inspector of Police (Crime) at Colaba Station. He holds a B.Sc degree, a bachelor’s degree in legislative law and a master’s degree in business administration. He started his career as a sub-inspector at Khar station, and has worked in the Traffic Department and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Mohite did not respond to calls or messages from The Indian Express. When asked why Mohite has been entrusted with handling these cases, Commissioner of Police Sanjay Pandey said: “These cases have been assigned to the said officer as he has expertise in the said field.”

In the first week of March, an FIR was registered against Rashmi Shukla at Colaba station under relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act and IPC. The FIR was based on a complaint by a senior officer, Rajeev Jain, who had accused Shukla of keeping the phone numbers of Raut and Khadse under surveillance while she was heading the SID.

A similar complaint was also filed in Pune in February accusing Shukla of tapping Congress leader Nana Patole’s phone between March 2016 and July 2018, when she was the city’s police commissioner. No charge sheet has been filed in the Pune case.

According to the chargesheet in the Colaba case probed by Mohite, the police found “evidence” to show that Shukla allegedly tapped the phones of Raut and Khadse for “malicious political purposes”.

The chargesheet contains the statements of 18 key witnesses, including the statements of an officer of the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, who allegedly claimed that he told Shukla that she was violating the rules.