Mumbai: Mumbai police commissioner R S Sharma was on April 24 given a clean chit by the Maharashtra government in connection with the Rs 3,500 crore stamp-paper racket in Pune which was unearthed early this year during his earlier tenure as the police chief of that city.

The state Home Department, however, recommended suspension of two police officials - investigating officer P R Deshmukh and assistant commissioner of police (ACP) M Cmulani - for alleged bungling in the early stages of investigations into the racket.

The report of the Home Department, which considered findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by deputy inspector general (DIG) S K Jaiswal and comments of director general of police (DGP) Subhash Malhotra, was made public by Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal at a press conference.

While giving a clean chit to Sharma, the report said he cannot be held responsible for any specific acts of commission or omission on the part of investigating officer and other supervising officers.

PTI