Maha top cop replaced as row intensifies

MUMBAI: Under flak for mishandling of the bomb scare outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Maharashtra government on Wednesday transferred Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh from the post.

Senior IPS officer Hemant Nagrale, holding additional charge of Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP), will be the new Mumbai Police Commissioner

and replace Singh, who has been posted to the state Home Guard, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said.

Deshmukh, who met chief minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier in the day, made the announcement on Twitter amid speculation in media over Singh’s handling of the Sachin Vaze episode.

“Big decision of the government. Shri Hemant Nagrale will be the new Mumbai Police Commissioner. Shri Rajnish Seth will have the additional charge of the post of Director General of Police, Maharashtra,” Deshmukh tweeted.

“Shri Sanjay Pandey will have the responsibility of Maharashtra State Security Corporation. Shri Param Bir Singh will have the responsibility of the Home Guard,” he added.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s move comes in the wake of a series of meetings among the ruling Shiv Sena- NCP-Congress alliance leaders.

Vaze is at the focus of a probe by the National Investigating Agency in a case related to the recovery of an SUV with explosives near Ambani’s house in Mumbai.

Mumbai police officer Vaze, arrested in the case on March 13 for his alleged role in the crime, was attached to the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of city police’s crime branch till recently. He was suspended after NIA arrested him in the case.