Supekar sought money from prisoner, says BJP MLA Dhas

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: BJP MLA from Ashti in Beed district Suresh Dhas has accused senior IPS officer Jalindar Supekar of demanding money from an undertrial in Amravati prison. When contacted, Superkar said Dhas's allegations were "baseless". A day after levelling the allegation during a public gathering in Ashti, Dhas on Wednesday told TOI: "I was told by a reliable source that Supekar recently demanded Rs 300 crore from a person currently lodged in Amravati jail."Supekar refuted the charges. "These allegations are baseless and defamatory in nature. If he or anyone else is making such claims, they should come out with some evidence," he said. Dhas was addressing a gathering in Ashti area on Tuesday. He said: "Is there anything more unfortunate than an officer at the IG level accepting Rs 1 lakh in cash and a phone worth Rs 50,000? Multiple complaints have reached me about Supekar. Demanding Rs 300 crore from a jail inmate is the latest one."The state home department last week transferred special inspector general of police (prisons) Jalindar Supekar as deputy commandant general of Home Guards in Mumbai in the wake of allegations that the IPS officer had tried to shield the in-laws of alleged dowry death victim Vaishnavi Hagawane and played a role in securing gun licences for her husband, Shashank, brother-in-law, Sushil, and family friend, Nilesh Chavan. Vaishnavi, daughter-in-law of expelled NCP functionary Rajendra Hagawane, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her marital home in Pune's Bhukum on May 16.The govt action came after social activist Anjali Damania alleged that Supekar, related to Vaishnavi's in-laws, was trying to shield the Hagawane family and played a part in securing firearm licences to Shashank, Sushil and Chavan. She alleged that Chavan got a firearm licence despite having a previous criminal record. Supekar had then denied the allegations.At the Ashti rally, Dhas alleged that Supekar had misused his position to protect relatives of the Hagawane family. "Such people, even if they walk out of jail after years, should be publicly shamed," he said. Supekar declined to comment further on Dhas's remarks and said he was unaware of accusations made during the public speech.