Anti-corruption bureau launches inquiry into suspended former GRP commissioner Quaiser Khalid

MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has started an inquiry after receiving a complaint from a businessman alleging that former Government Railway Police (GRP) commissioner Quaiser Khalid had taken around ₹37 lakh from him under the guise of allowing him to put up hoardings on railway police land.

The state government had suspended Khalid last month for sanctioning the illegal, oversized hoarding that collapsed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar on May 13, killing 17 people and injuring several others. The hoarding and petrol pump were located on railway police land.

“We have received a complaint, which is being inquired into,” said a senior officer from the ACB. The four-page, hand-written complaint was filed by a Saki Naka-based scrap dealer who also has a hoardings business.

The complainant stated that he had paid ₹30 lakh in cash to Khalid, along with $6,100 for shopping when the IPS officer visited the United States in 2022 and another $2,000 to his daughter who lives there. Khalid allegedly told the complainant that he would adjust the amount in the contract for the hoardings, but did not follow through.

The complainant said he was introduced to Khalid in February 2022 when he was the GRP commissioner. When he informed Khalid about his hoardings business, he was allegedly promised a contract to put up hoardings at Tilak Bridge in Dadar and the railway police colony in Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar East.

In April 2022, Khalid asked the complainant to pay ₹10 lakh in cash at his house for the hoarding contract. “After this, the complainant met the GRP commissioner several times, who told him that his file was being processed,” said a police officer.

In August 2022, Khalid allegedly messaged the complainant and asked him to book a hotel for him near John F Kennedy International Airport in New York. He also allegedly asked the complainant to pay for his shopping in the US, which amounted to around $6,100. Khalid said he would return the money, but the complainant never got the money back, said the police officer.

A month later, Khalid allegedly asked the complainant to transfer around $2,000 to his daughter, who is in the US. When the complainant later inquired about the money, Khalid allegedly told him it would be adjusted in his hoardings contact.

In November 2022, the complainant again got a call from Khalid asking him to deposit ₹20 lakh in a bank account. When the complainant expressed inability to make the transaction, he was asked to pay the amount in cash to Mohammed Arshad Khan, the business partner of Khalid’s wife Summana. The Mumbai police’s investigation into the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse later revealed that Khan received at least ₹55 lakh from Ego Media, the ad agency that owns the billboard.

“In December, the complainant was promised by Khalid that he would give him the contract for hoardings at Ghatkopar on the Government Railway Police land after the assembly session, and acknowledged that he had received ₹37 lakh from him,” said the police officer.

Later that month, though, when the complainant met Khalid at his home, the IPS officer allegedly told him that he could not give him the contract because several complaints had been raised against him in the state assembly. However, Khalid assured the businessman that he would return his money, added the police officer.

When the complainant later inquired about his money, Khalid didn’t respond and later threatened him, he claimed. The complainant said that Khalid had used his authority and post to cheat him and demanded legal action to be taken against him, said the police officer.

Apart from the director general of the ACB, the businessman also sent his complaint to the chief minister, home minister and Maharashtra director general of police, Rashmi Shukla.