Mumbai, Dec 13 (PTI) Former Mumbai Police Commissioner M N Singh has said underworld don Dawood Ibrahim became a "monster" because he was given social recognition and good people hobnobbed with him, and maintained politicians use criminals because they think they have a hold over society.Singh said some officers go rogue because of political interference in the police force and termed the 2021 Antilia bomb scare case, in which some Mumbai cops were allegedly involved, as a "shameful" incident.The retired IPS officer, who headed the Mumbai police from May 2000 to December 2002, was speaking at the launch of journalist Jitendra Dixit"s book “Bombay After Ayodhya” on Monday at the Mumbai Press Club.He minced no words while talking about the politician-underworld nexus and the Antilia case in which some Mumbai cops were arrested.Singh, who led an onslaught against the underworld in Mumbai and supervised the 1993 serial blasts" investigation, rued that many builders and film producers kept gangsters on their payroll.“Dawood Ibrahim became a monster because he was given social recognition. Good people hobnobbed with him. They felt great being seen in his company. Many builders and film producers kept gangsters on their payroll."Politicians use criminals because they think they have a hold over society. They can get votes. What can the police do in this? Politicians wake up only when it comes to their necks. Now I hear politicians getting involved with gangsters and are purchasing property from them," the former top cop said.Singh expressed his anguish over the conduct of certain police officers from the force which he once commanded.Referring to the Antilia case in which two "encounter specialists" were arrested for allegedly planting explosives outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani"s residence and killing a Thane businessman, he said “There has not been a more shameful incident than this in the history of the Mumbai Police. The motto of the Mumbai Police is to protect the good and finish the bad, but in this case, the cops acted in contradiction." He batted for police reforms and said the force must be taken out of political control.Dixit"s anecdotal book chronicles post-Babri mosque demolition riots in Mumbai (1992-93) and how they affected various spheres of life in the city, including its politics, underworld, social fabric, the film industry, the financial market and so on. PTI ZA RSY RSY