India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded the resignation of Anil Deshmukh and that a "fair and impartial probe by an outside agency" look into the allegation by ex-Mumbai Police Chief Param Bir Singh against him.
Singh claimed in a letter to state chief Uddhav Thackeray that Deshmukh asked several police officials to run an extortion racket. The BJP suspects that Mumbai policeman are being protected by top leaders of the Shiv Sena-NCP coalition government.
"Extortion is a crime. A policeman indulging in it and that too at the behest of the home minister of the state is a very serious matter…It must be probed in an honest and transparent manner by an outside agency," Ravi Shankar Prasad, federal law minister and senior leader of BJP, said on Sunday.
"If a policeman in Mumbai is asked to extort money for political bosses, we can surmise that there have been similar transgressions at other business hubs like Pune, Nagpur and Jalgaon," Prasad added.
Meanwhile, Jayant Patil, state head of the National Congress Party – the coalition partner of Uddhav Thackeray's government – said Deshmukh will not be replaced.
Deshmukh denies the allegation by Singh, who was was sacked earlier this week after police officer Sachin Vaze was arrested as part of the case involving the discovery of an explosive-laden car outside the Mumbai home of one of Asia's richest men, Reliance head Mukesh Ambani, earlier this month.
It's alleged that Vaze – who was the investigating officer working on the car bomb case – was himself involved in planting the car. The case continues.
