After writing to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Thursday met President Ram Nath Kovind and demanded that President's rule should be imposed in Maharashtra in the wake of former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh's allegation of corruption against state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
"I met President Kovind and gave him a memorandum on behalf of RPI (A) party demanding the President's Rule in Maharashtra. It is a serious matter. No inquiry can take place until the Maharashtra government is removed. He said that he will consider it," Ramdas Athawale was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Monday, Ramdas Athawale sent a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding President's Rule in Maharashtra.
"A detailed investigation should be done in the allegations made by Parambir Singh letter against the Maharashtra Home Minister. The people of Maharashtra have lost their faith in this government over the law and order issue. So, the Maharashtra government should be dissolved and president rule shall be imposed in the state," read a press statement by Athawale. He also said that he would be meeting Shah in a couple of days and will raise the issue.
On March 20, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged that Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had indulged in "malpractices" and asked suspended API Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore every month.
In the letter, Singh, who has now been posted as Commandant General of Home Guards, also said that he has been "made a scapegoat to divert attention from the actual wrongdoers".
He further said that Sachin Vaze, who was heading the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police, was called by Deshmukh to his official residence several times in the last few months and "repeatedly instructed to assist in the collection of funds".
The allegations made by Singh came a day after Deshmukh had said that Singh was moved out as Mumbai Police Commissioner so that cases pertaining to Vaze were probed without obstruction.
Vaze, a Mumbai police officer, has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the explosives-laden SUV found parked near Ambani's residence in south Mumbai on February 25. He is also facing heat in the alleged murder of Thane-based businesssman Mansukh Hiren, who was in possession of that SUV. Hiren was found dead in a creek on March 5.
