Mumbai, Nov 26 (IANS): In a shocking claim, a former Mumbai Police officer has accused the ex-DIG of the Anti Terrorist Squad, Param Bir Singh, of allegedly taking a phone recovered from Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab after the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes 13 years ago.
Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Shamsherkhan Pathan met and submitted a letter on July 26 to Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale and demanded that Singh should be booked under terror charges for his 'anti-national act'.
Pathan told mediapersons on Friday, after Param Bir Singh reached Mumbai, that in November 26-29, 2008, he was a Senior Inspector at Pydhonie Police Station and Singh was the DIG-ATS.
After the terror strikes, Singh had allegedly pocketed a mobile phone recovered from Kasab, the sole terrorist caught alive, and till date that device -- which could be a crucial piece of evidence -- has not come on the police records.
"I have requested the CoP Nagrale to order a probe into the affair, where is the mobile, why it was not handed over to the 26/11 investigation team and book Singh under terror charges for destroying a vital piece of evidence," Pathan said.
On why he was raking up the issue after 13 years, Pathan said that since he was not directly concerned with the matter, he recollected it only after Singh levelled allegations of corruption against former home minister Anil Deshmukh in March and then himself faced extortion and graft charges.
"I spoke with N. R. Mali, the then Senior Inspector of Police with D. B. Marg Police Station, who also confirmed that the mobile was handed over by a constable identified as 'Kamble' to Singh, but it has not come on the police records till now. This is a very serious matter," Pathan contended.
Slamming the ex-ATS DIG for allegedly being "a known corrupt officer who has the blessings of the Bharatiya Janata Party", Pathan said that later when a police officer was sent by the probe team to collect it, Singh was livid and refused to hand over the device,. Instead he shouted and asked the officer to get out.
"Knowing his record, Singh may have used the contacts in the phone for extortion purposes or sold it to the ISI to destroy the evidence in the device," Pathan alleged.
Though legal officials also say that there was no such mobile on the records, Kasab was tried, found guilty, convicted and finally sent to the gallows nine years ago on November 21, 2012 inside the Yerawada Central Jail, Pune.