Mumbai: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner R S Sharma was today (Dec 1, 2003) arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for his alleged complicity in shielding prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi in the multi-crore fake stamp scam, SIT sources said.

Sharma, who retired yesterday (Nov 30), was questioned by SIT for the fifth time today on alleged lapses in the fake stamp paper case registered by Bund Garden police station during his tenure as the Police Commissioner of Pune.

On November 25, the Government instituted a departmental inquiry against him and served a copy of chargesheet listing eight instances of alleged lapses on his part.

The Government had charged Sharma with contravening rule 3(1) and 3 (2) of All India Service (conduct) rules by not maintaining absolute integrity and devotion to his duties.

Sharma is accused of keeping quiet although he knew that provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the fake stamp paper case in Pune had been scuttled by Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) and Joint Commissioner of Police on July 9, 2002. He had failed to personally intervene and take corrective steps while filing chargesheet and applying MCOCA to this case, the chargesheet alleged.

Furthermore, inclusion and deletion of certain names from the chargesheet without rational correlation with evidence on record was brought to the notice of Sharma by Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) in writing on October 16, 2002. Yet he failed to look at the case papers personally.

Sharma is facing the charge of failing to remove ACP M C Mulani from investigating team formed on September 6, 2002, even after the then additional Chief Secretary (Home) of State Government Ashoke Basak informed him that Mulani had demanded bribe from prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi.

As Pune Police Commissioner, he allegedly failed to restore command and control when a dispute arose between Additional Police Commissioner (Crime) and investigating officer in this case.

Another charge alleged was that Subodh Jaiswal and Sri Kumar, top officers of SIT of Maharashtra and Karnataka respectively, had personally briefed Sharma about Telgi enjoying at his Cuffe Parade home in Mumbai when they visited him on January 9, 2003. At that time Sharma was police chief in Mumbai and had orally ordered suspension of API Dilip Kamat but failed to ensure compliance of his order.

PTI