Asix-member team of Mumbai crime branch on Monday started probe into the high profile suicide of Charudatta Vishnu Deshpande, former chief of corporate affairs and communications, Tata Steel. The probe team is led by Deepak Devraj, DSP of Mumbai Police.
The crime branch team headed for the corporate affairs and communications department where they interrogated the officials. Sources said that they also went to the office of Deshpande located on the first floor. The quizzing continued till late night at around 8 pm. The investigation started following home minister RR Patil ordered a crime branch probe into the incident. After a representation by Deshpande’s former colleagues seeking a probe, Patil asked Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Himanshu Roy to form a special team to conduct a parallel investigation into the case.
Though the investigating team is tight lipped however, latter in the evening Devraj said: “Yes we are here to investigate the incident. The matter is under investigation and it is too early to comment. Charudatta Deshpande was appointed as Chief, Corporate Affairs and Communications, Tata Steel on May 7, 2012. Deshpande a B. Pharma from Mumbai University, prior to joining Tata Steel, was General Manager,Corporate Communications, ICICI Bank. Before that, he was Senior General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mahindra and Mahindra ltd.
It may be recalled that Deshpande’s close associates Indrajit Gupta, Gurbir Singh, Charles Assisi, Prince Mathews Thomas, Dinesh Krishnan, Cuckoo Paul, T Surendar, Debojyoti Chatterjee and Dinesh Narayanan wrote to Tata Group chairman, Cyrus Mistry that the deceased was under immense pressure after Forbes magazine published a story on Tata Steel with a focus on the big succession issue and sought probe.
Sensing the gravity of the incident, Tata Group also formed a probe team led by Ishaat Hussain, non-executive director of Tata Steel, including Mukund Rajan, the group's Chief Ethics Officer, N S Rajan, the group's Chief Human Resources Officer, and Bharat Vasani, the Group General Counsel. later in the evening Tata Steel issued a communiqué stating “Earlier today, a team of Mumbai Crime branch police officials investigating the demise of Charudatta Deshpande visited Tata Steel’s offices in Jamshedpur. Tata Steel's officials have extended their full support and cooperation to the on-going investigations.” Tata Steel Board has also expanded the probe team with the induction of O P Bhatt, independent director of the company.