Anil Deshmukh: I never said IPS officers planned to overthrow Maha govt

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in an interview on Sunday dismissed reports of him having made any claims that a group of IPS officers in the State had attempted to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Deshmukh, who was speaking in Pune, was referring to an interview given to Lokmat on Sunday.

“This news is completely false... erroneous statements have been put into my mouth. Please see the video clip of the interview and you will realise that I had not said any such thing when I was asked to comment on whether there had been such a move planned by some IPS officers... I had only said that I cannot comment on such things openly,” he said.

After the interview, there were reports that Mr. Deshmukh had claimed that a plan to topple the government, hatched by four to five senior IPS officers, had been thwarted. 

Here's what he said in the interview :
“All police officers work well in coordination. Some officers have relationships with some politicians… But I cannot state anything openly. After all, I am the family head [of the Maharashtra Police Department] and all authorities and staff work together as one big family,” he had, hinting that a section of authorities had close ties with the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party government.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the State Council Praveen Darekar demanded Deshmukh’s resignation. “The Home Minister is giving such interviews to divert attention from the MVA government’s failure to control the COVID-19 pandemic… it does not behove of the Home Minister to speak in such a disparaging manner about his own police officers. Maharashtra’s police authorities know their limits and will never contemplate such an act,” he said.