Former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh alleged on Monday that former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh informed him that money collected through extortion and other methods was handed over to Jayant Patil. Patil, according to Singh, managed the funds for the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
In an interview with PTI, Singh claimed that Deshmukh had set a Rs 100 crore “collection target” for his officers in Mumbai. Singh also alleged that Deshmukh discussed plans to target key opposition leaders, including current Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.
Singh told PTI that the Rs 100 crore target was set specifically for Mumbai, and his officers were pressured to meet this goal. He also mentioned that people involved in illegal activities, like the banned gutkha business, were summoned to discuss money collection.
"The Rs 100 crore collection target was for Mumbai city for which my officers were pressured. The target for the rest of the state was different," Singh told PTI.
"Those who called were people in contact with Deshmukh and his son (Salil). There must be a big target, I don't want to speculate, the money coming from illicit activities was different too," Singh claimed.
Param Bir Singh, who previously accused Anil Deshmukh of extorting money from bars in Mumbai through dismissed cop Sachin Vaze, now alleges that Deshmukh's son used to call officers to collect money for their postings.
"There used to be negotiations at a hotel in western suburbs. Anil Deshmukh himself had told me two to three times that the collected money went to Jayant Patil who looked after the party funds," Singh alleged.
Jayant Patil was the water resources minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government and also served as the Maharashtra unit chief of the undivided NCP.
Singh also claimed that during his time as Mumbai police chief from February 2020 to March 2021, Deshmukh and other MVA leaders aimed to target certain opposition leaders.
“Regular meetings in this regard were held at the official bungalow of Anil Deshmukh, where ex-MLA Anil Gote, public prosecutor Pravin Chavan and he himself were present, he claimed. At one such meeting, Gote and Chavan brought with them three to four complainants and they wanted cases to be registered against BJP MLA Jaykumar Rawal and former minister Girish Mahajan,” Singh said.