Ex-Mumbai police commissioner to face strong ED action?

Mumbai: IPS officer and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, who has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday morning, is likely to face strong action. Those familiar with the issue say iSec Services Pvt. Ltd--the IT firm company Pandey founded in 2001 when he had quit the IPS in frustration after being repeatedly sidelined by the political establishment--was one of those auditing NSE servers between 2010 and 2015 but failed to point out the breach.

“iSec officials were aware of the breach of the NSE servers, but did not raise any red flags,” a person close to the investigating agencies told First India. Pandey, however, has refused to comment on the allegations. The 1986-batch IPS officer suddenly found favour with the political class when a series of sensational cases dented the image of the Mumbai police. These include the TRP scam that led to anchor Arnab Goswami’s arrest, the Antilia case that exposed the role of police officer Sachin Vaze and finally the Rs100 crore corruption allegations by then-Mumbai commissioner Param Bir Singh against thenHome Minister Anil Deshmukh.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government brought Pandey in as Mumbai Police Commissioner to restore the image of the police force. Pandey connected with the Mumbaikars on social media and earned praise for his peoplefriendly initia - tives. However, Pandey--an IIT Kharagpur computer e n g i n e e r who also went to Harvard--found himself unwittingly in the middle of the political battle between the BJP and the Shiv Sena-led MVA government on several occasions. For instance, as the head of the three-member panel that probed the phone-tapping of politicians, Pandey was instrumental in chargesheeting ex-state intelligence chief Rashmi Shukla.

When Amravati MP Navneet Rana alleged mistreatment by the police after her arrest on sedition charges , Pandey released CCTV videos showing she and her husband Ravi Rana peacefully sipping tea at the police station. Similarly, Kirit Somaiya and Mohit Kambhoj--who have been making corruption allegations against Shiv Sena leaders--have accused Pandey of alleged bias against the BJP, a charge he has denied. The Economic Offences Wing also filed a case against Kirit Somaiya’s son Neil Somaiya’s company Niccon Infra alleging that purchase of FSI was hugely undervalued. “Out of 66,110 sq.m, Niccon Infra had purchased only 12,890sq.m of FSI in two projects. However, The EOW officer had created an impression of undervaluation: that Niccon bought 66,110 sq.m and paid for 12,890 sq.m,” the source said. Pandey’s decision to send a team to New Delhi to arrest BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma after several FIRs were lodged against her over her remarks on Prophet Muhammad had furthered irked the Centre, insiders say