In a notable legal maneuver, former Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey has approached the Bombay High Court to dismiss an extortion case levied against him. The case, registered in Thane, is denounced by Pandey as a product of political vendetta. The plea, highlighting allegations of criminal conspiracy, forgery, and extortion, was briefly deliberated by a division bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande on Monday, with further hearings scheduled for December 19.
The origins of the accusations stem from a complaint by businessman Sanjay Punamiya, who claimed that Pandey exploited his DGP position in 2021 to extort money and coerce false statements from him. Responding to these allegations, Pandey’s legal team, led by attorneys Mihir Desai and Rahul Kamerkar, argued the implausibility of the charges, emphasizing the suspicious three-year delay in filing the FIR. This delay, they claim, casts doubt on the authenticity and timing of the accusations, suggesting a lack of genuine interaction between Pandey and Punamiya.
Amidst the legal proceedings, Pandey has maintained that the FIR is a strategic attack woven into a broader narrative of political vendetta since his retirement from police service. The petition not only seeks the quashing of the FIR but also a stay on the ongoing investigation, asserting that the alleged offences do not hold against him.
Furthermore, the complaint against Pandey implicates him alongside two retired officers and others, accusing them of intimidating Punamiya into implicating prominent political figures—Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, and former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh—in an urban land ceiling scam during his hospitalization in 2021.
