Young Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Bhagyashree Navtake, who undertook a complex series of fraud investigations between 2020-2022, involving the Jalgaon-based Bhaichand Hirachand Raisoni Multi State Cooperative Credit Society Ltd (BHRC), following multiple complaints from its depositors, has had tables turned against her, allegedly politically motivated, due to her unearthing a Rs1,200 crore scam, reportedly involving Girish Mahajan, a minister from Maharashtra.
As a result, instead of taking her investigative findings forward to nail the several accused, who are involved in this multi-crore public scam, now the central bureau of investigation (CBI) is curiously investigating deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Navtake for forgery and conspiracy in the same case.
DCP Navtake is fighting her case in the Bombay High Court, as she could cull out Rs100 crore of depositors’ money from BHRC. In
her petition has alleged political interference as a senior politician of the ruling party and a businessman close to the party are the alleged offenders. She also questions the alleged role of the director general of police (DGP) in not playing fair, despite her investigation report comprehensively bringing out the factual position.
Sunil Devakinandan Zawar, the main accused in this case, who she has nailed and is presently out of jail (due to the COVID-19 situation at that time which led to the release of many prisoners not due to merit but due to the unprecedented situation) has an upper hand due to the procurement of the documents, as public information officers (PIOs) have kindly and promptly supplied him with the information, without batting an eyelid.
So far, DCP Navtake has filed 53 right to information (RTI) applications between November 2022 and October 2024, with various law enforcing authorities in Maharashtra but has been denied replies by the PIOs, first appellate authorities (FAA) and some are pending for second appeal hearings with the state information commissioners. However, strangely, the main accused Mr Zawar, who has filed 81 RTI applications in the same period, has been given all documents that he has asked for.
DCP Navtake says, “It is obvious that the orders to provide the information to the accused who is being protected due to political links, come from the powers-to-be as in one case, copies of file notings have also been provided to the accused – one which comes under section 8 of the RTI Act as the investigation report is still not made public.”
Most of DCP Navtake’s RTI applications have been addressed to the criminal investigation division (CID) office, DGP office and the state home ministry did not get any replies, while astonishingly one of the replies declared her as a ‘third party’ and invoked the third-party clause of the RTI Act on her, despite her steering the probe.
Documents that she sought under the RTI Act, include applications filed by the accused and accompanying documents; statements recorded by the CID during the application inquiry; statements of the accused and others recorded by the CID during the application inquiry; application inquiry reports filed from time to time and accompanying documents; orders and comments regarding the application inquiry and issue-wise letters received/ issued from time to time regarding the application inquiry.
However, as for the accused Mr Zawar, DCP Navtake rues that “he has been provided even documents that come under exemption clauses of section 8 of the RTI Act. What is stunning is that the Pune police has stated that the documents filed in the chargesheet were not available on record. This reply has strengthened his case to say that there is no evidence against him.”
Rues DCP Navtake, “Despite submitting multiple RTI requests to the home minister, the Maharashtra government, the DGP, and the CID, the requested information remains inaccessible. The CID inaccurately claimed I was a ‘third person’ and denied my requests, while the government and the department deflected responsibility onto each other. Meanwhile, the accused appear to have received the requested information, as evident from their submissions to the authorities. My second appeal regarding this matter is currently pending with the state information commissioners in Pune and Mumbai.”
She further states that “Throughout the inquiry process, I repeatedly requested copies of the applicants' submissions and accompanying documents, but these were consistently withheld. Forced to rely solely on memory due to the extensive scope of the cases and the volume of applications, I provided responses while being questioned in the CID office.”
In her note to the chief secretary of Maharashtra, she writes, “During my tenure as DCP, EOW, the DGP recognised the investigation at Deccan police station as appropriate. However, based solely on the accused’s claims, the CID conducted inquiries that unjustly implicated me while benefiting the accused. In the interest of justice, I request a re-investigation by an independent officer, along with access to all relevant applications, documents, responses, reports, and orders to allow me to present my case with substantial evidence.”
DCP Navtake has to fight hard against a police force that is subservient to the political system which is often the case. Time for the police force to work under an independent national police commission instead of being extensions of the states and at the mercy of the netas?
(Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife. She is also the convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting, which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book "To The Last Bullet - The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte" with Vinita Kamte and is the author of "The Mighty Fall".)
Treating "Ladki Bahin" shabbily when her investigations expose a multi-crore scam and all the while giving a paltry sum to women to supposedly honor them.