Mumbai: Crime branch officer transferred for ‘proximity’ to informant Bali

Once a senior police inspector in the crime branch, Jagdish Sail has now been transferred to the preventive branch for his closeness to the now dead police informant Avinash Solanki aka Bali.

Bali, who was reportedly a close friend of a drug supplier was also a key witness in the 2011 Keenan and Reuben Santos case. He was allegedly killed near Andheri East by his one-time friend Nilesh Shukla.

“As per the order, I have been temporarily attached to the preventive branch. I don’t know the reason behind this,” Sail was quoted as saying by mid-day.

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The daily also reported that almost “a decade ago, when Shukla was arrested under the NDPS Act. It was Bali who got him bailed out, and they became friends.” Bali had reportedly come in contact with inspector Sail when he was posted at the Oshiwara police station in Mumbai.

“Initially, he used to serve tea and snacks to Sail. Soon, he started giving him vital information related to cases. Sail started treating him as a younger brother; he took him along as his close informer wherever he was transferred,” a source told the daily.

“As the officer’s name had cropped up with links to Bali, and their proximity was more than what it should have been, we transferred the officer from the Crime Branch to the Preventive Cell, which is a less demanded posting,” a senior Crime Branch official was quoted as saying by the Mumbai Mirror.

Sail had also reportedly introduced Bali to Anil Jadhav, who worked for the Anti-Narcotics Department. Jadhav was later arrested by the police for supplying drugs and it is believed that it was Bali who had informed the police.

“We did not want Sail to interfere in the investigations of MIDC police station, so he has been transferred,” another Crime Branch officer told the local daily.