New Delhi, Mar 18 (IANS): While the Maharashtra government has confirmed that Param Bir Singh has been shunted out as Mumbai Police Commissioner, the incoming top cop, Hemant Nagrale, has had run-ins with controversy due to a troubled past with his wife.
Just a day after Singh was removed as the police commissioner, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Thursday that he was transferred after some of his colleagues' committed "serious and unforgivable mistakes".
Singh has been transferred to the low-key Home Guard department by the state government, with acting Director-General of Police Nagrale replacing him.
Deshmukh said he was shifted to ensure that the probe into the Sachin Vaze episode in connection with the SUV case is conducted "properly and without any hindrance".
As per media reports, in March 2008, Nagrale's wife Pratima wrote a complaint letter against her husband Nagrale to different government departments, including then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Pratima, in her complaint, had stated that her husband tried to force her out of the residence and threatened to put her in a mental hospital if she didn't keep distance from him.
Pratima had alleged that Nagrale, a 1987 batch IPS officer, had been physically torturing her to get a divorce.
"If he can prove that I am mad, it would be easier for him to get his way," she had told a press conference at that time.
As per reports, in 2009, Pratibha went to Nagrale's official residence in Colaba, but he refused to allow her in. Following this, she filed an application at the Colaba police station about the perceived threat from her estranged husband.
Despite being married for 20 years, she filed numerous cases against her husband alleging mental and physical harassment.
On Nagrale's complaint, a family court granted permission to dissolve the marriage. However, the Bombay High Court set aside the order passed by the family court grating divorce to Nagrale, then 46, from his wife Pratima Nagrale, 41, saying that the trial court had committed manifest error in exercise of discretion.