Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Saturday wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray saying that Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked suspended police officer Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore per month from city bars and hotels every month. 

Singh, who was transferred last week for ‘mishandling’ the bomb scare outside the residence of Mukesh Ambani, in a letter to Thackeray wrote, “HM Deshmukh expressed to Sachin Waze that he had a target to accumulate Rs 100 cr/month.” The state home minister has denied the claims made by Singh.

Deshmukh said Singh was hurling false accusations  “to save his skin” in the Waze case. Waze headed Mumbai police Crime Intelligence Unit was suspended and arrested earlier this week in the Antilla security scare case.

The former Mumbai Police Commissioner said Waze was called by Deshmukh, NCP leader from Vidarbha region, many times in the past few months, repeatedly instructing him to assist in collection of the funds. In the eight-page letter, Singh added that Deshmukh had made a target for Waze to collect Rs 100 crore a month, half of it from nearly 1,750 bars, restaurants and similar establishments operating in the city.

A day after Singh was shunted out, Deshmukh on Thursday said he was transferred after some of his colleagues committed “serious and unforgivable mistakes”.

Reacting to the letter, Deshmukh tweeted, “Sachin Waze’s direct links in Antilia Case & Mansukh Hiren Case are coming forward. Param Bir Singh is afraid that its connections will reach up to him. He has made these false allegations to save & protect himself from legal action.”

Former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis sought the resignation of Deshmukh following the letter incident. He said, “We demand the home minister’s resignation. If he doesn’t, then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray must remove him. An impartial probe must be conducted. The letter also says the chief minister was informed about this earlier, so why didn’t he act on it?”