In an announcement that took the state police by surprise,Maharashtras Minister of State for Home Ramesh Bagwe announced in the Legislative Council on Tuesday that Punes Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh would be transferred and new steps would be taken to upgrade security following a spate of high profile crimes in the city. However,within hours,his boss,Home Minister R R Patil,said he was not aware of the announcement and that Bagwe had not discussed the move with him. Asked by reporters outside the House about the announcement to transfer Singh,Patil said that at times the situation in the House compels ministers to make such announcements. I will seek information about what happened in the House and what led to the statement by the minister of state, Patil said. While Patil belongs to the NCP,Bagwe is from the Congress and represents the Pune Cantonment constituency. Sources in the Home Department said orders for Singhs transfer had not been issued and officials needed to confirm what exactly the two ministers had said before any decision is taken at the administrative level. Replying to a discussion on crimes in Pune initiated by Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe,Bagwe said: Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh will be transferred and a more efficient officer will be given the job considering the rising crimes in Pune. The state government has been under attack since the German Bakery blast this year and an increase in crime against women in recent weeks in the cultural capital of the state. Legislative Council members demanded Singhs transfer,blaming him for failing to curb crime in the city,especially crimes against women and murders. Members pointed out that in October 2009,a software engineer was allegedly raped and murdered by a security guard,a cab driver and three others in the industrial belt of Chakan in Pune. Earlier this month,a 25-year-old MBA graduate was allegedly gangraped after being picked up from IT hub Hinjewadi on the outskirts of Pune. Days later,two Rajputana Rifles soldiers were arrested for raping a teen. A week ago,four history-sheeters allegedly robbed and gangraped a government official working in Pune at a farm in Dhanora village on the Beed-Ahmednagar Road. Satyapal Singh,an IPS officer of the 1973 batch,took charge as Pune Commissioner in July 2008. The Opposition has been gunning for him since the beginning of the legislature session in the light of the German Bakery blast and the rape cases.
