In a major legal victory for former Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed an extortion First Information Report (FIR) registered against him in Thane. The case, which also named several others, stemmed from allegations that the former top cop had misused his official position to extort money and pressure a businessman into framing senior political leaders.
The ruling was delivered by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam. While the court has cleared Pandey, a detailed, reasoned order explaining the bench’s decision is not yet available.
The Allegations: Threats, Extortion, and Political Framing
The legal battle began on August 26, 2024, when builder-cum-businessman Sanjay Punamiya lodged an FIR in Thane city. Punamiya accused Pandey of abusing his authority as the state’s DGP in 2021 to orchestrate an extortion scheme.
According to the complaint, Pandey, along with advocate Shekhar Jagtap and members of the Agarwal family, coerced Punamiya into giving false statements. Punamiya alleged that they threatened to unlawfully reopen old cases and fabricate entirely new FIRs against him if he did not cooperate.
The businessman made further sensational claims, alleging a political conspiracy. Punamiya asserted that while he was admitted to a hospital, police officers acting on Pandey’s direct instructions pressured him to falsely implicate Devendra Fadnavis (who was then the Deputy Chief Minister) and Eknath Shinde (the then Chief Minister) in an alleged Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) scam. In exchange for cooperating with this narrative, Punamiya was allegedly promised that the charges against him would be dropped.
Additionally, the complaint stated that Punamiya’s younger brother was threatened and forced to pay Rs 35 lakh out of a demanded Rs 1 crore to prevent the registration of further false cases.
The Defense: “Political Vendetta” and Key Delays
Sanjay Pandey, represented by advocate Rahul Kamerkar, vehemently denied all the allegations. In his application to the High Court seeking to quash the FIR, Pandey argued that the criminal case was entirely baseless and represented a “political vendetta” launched against him following his retirement.
A central pillar of Pandey’s defense was the massive timeline gap. Kamerkar pointed out that there was an unexplained three-year delay in registering the case. While the events and alleged extortion attempts were said to have occurred in 2021, the formal complaint was not filed until August 2024.
After hearing the arguments, the High Court ruled in favor of Pandey and his co-accused, effectively dismissing the Thane police’s extortion case against them.
