In her memoir 'Madam Commissioner,' former Commissioner of Pune Police, Meeran Borwankar, has disclosed the identities of two Shiv Sena leaders who she alleges were involved in inciting violence in Pune in 2010. According to Borwankar, Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe and Milind Narvekar, the Personal Assistant to Uddhav Thackeray, were reportedly discovered planning violent activities in Pune through phone tapping.
Borwankar's recollections in the memoir recount events from December 2010 when the Pune Municipal Corporation passed a resolution to relocate the statue of Dadoji Konddeo. She mentions that certain phone numbers were placed under surveillance at that time.
While the Congress-NCP coalition in power approved the statue's relocation, the Sambhaji Brigade, an offshoot of the Maratha Seva Sangh, vehemently protested the decision. Anticipating potential violence, the corporation relocated the statue to a municipal park. However, this decision triggered widespread violence, including the ransacking and vandalism of corporation offices, leading to a citywide strike (Pune bandh) declared on December 28, 2010.
As per Borwankar's account in her book, as an on-duty officer, she encountered a tapped phone conversation on the night of December 27, 2010. This conversation purportedly featured the two Shiv Sena leaders planning road blockades, vehicle burnings, violent activities, and stone-throwing in specific Pune areas.
In her book's chapter titled 'Behind the Political Curtain,' Borwankar noted that upon receiving this information, additional police personnel were dispatched to the designated areas to manage the situation. She attempted to file a criminal case against Narvekar and Gorhe but found that her subordinates within the Pune police were reluctant to do so.
Subsequently, Narvekar and Gorhe were charged with criminal conspiracy. However, Borwankar alleges that they managed to secure bail shortly thereafter. She writes that "In October 2017, Gorhe and Narvekar finally succeeded in having the criminal case withdrawn."
Borwankar's memoir has previously made allegations against Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, asserting that he auctioned off 3 acres of police-owned land in Pune's Yerawada in 2010.
Â
