Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the Thane police commissioner to personally look into the incident where Thane municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal allegedly threatened RTI activist, Pradeep Patil, for filing a petition against construction of sub-standard roads in Thane in the high court.
On Tuesday, the Thane police submitted an application for further investigation into Mr Patil’s allegations. The court was irked and questioned how come when the investigation officer earlier gave a clean chit to Mr Jaiswal, the police now wanted to further the probe. The court said that it had lost faith in the investigation officer and asked the Thane police commissioner to personally look into the investigation and take appropriate decision.
A division bench comprising Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla was hearing the petition filed by Mr Patil where he alleged a scam in road concretisation under the jurisdiction of the Thane municipal corporation.
Mr Patil claimed that potholes appeared on roads owing to sub-standard work and this affected vehicular traffic. The activist further alleged that in the case of 21 roads, the works had not been carried out as per prescribed rules of the corporation. Mr Patil claimed that despite making several representations before concerned authorities, no one had taken cognisance.
Mr Patil earlier informed the court that Mr Jaiswal had called and threatened him for filing the petition. He claimed that he registered a FIR against Mr Jaiswal but the police and the civic administration maintained that he never visited the municipal commissioner’s bungalow.
