Oil mafia: Maharashtra Minister, DGP trade charges

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Director General of Police D Sivanandhan's statement that a government resolution (GR) "tied the hands of the police" from cracking down on the oil mafia has evoked a sharp reaction from the State Government.

Rubbishing the DGP's claim, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anil Deshmukh has said the senior IPS officer's comments were "totally wrong".

Sivanandhan's remarks, given in the backdrop of Nashik Additional Collector Yashwant Sonawane's brutal killing, allegedly by the oil mafia, last month created a furore in state political and bureaucratic circles.

The IPS officer, who retires tomorrow, had said at Aurangabad on Wednesday that the GR prevented the police from going after the mafia, and insinuated that after Sonawane's murder, the Government was putting the onus of tackling the oil mafia on police.

"There was a GR in 2004, which said the police alone should not conduct raids as there were many complaints (of them taking bribes). But this GR was rectified in 2005 and the police, revenue and civil supplies officials were given back all the powers (on conducting raids)," Deshmukh said.

The Essential Commodities Act was not as effective as the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act which empowered the Collector, Superintendent of Police and the Commissioner of Police to take stringent action, he said.