Mumbai Police seeks non-bailable warrant against Param Bir Singh; hearing on October 29

In a massive development, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Wednesday has filed an application at the sessions court seeking a non-bailable warrant to be issued against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. The hearing on this application is set to take place on October 29. 

On October 22, the high-level inquiry committee comprising retired HC judge Kailash Chandiwal directed dismissed and disgraced ex-cop Sachin Vaze to record his statement as a witness on October 28. During the hearing, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh's lawyer described his former reportee - ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh - as the "master of corruption". Maintaining that Param Bir wrote the letter accusing Deshmukh of extortion because he was transferred, she questioned how he was violating the order of the commission by not appearing before it. 

At this point, it is unknown where Param Bir Singh is. Just days earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray admitted that the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir had gone 'missing'. Addressing an inauguration event of the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court and in the presence of the Chief Justice of India, CM Uddhav Thackeray hit out at Param Bir in an indirect statement. Stating that 'a complainant' who had levelled grave charges had gone 'missing' in the state, Thackeray said disapprovingly that even in the absence of the accuser, the allegations were being looked into seriously, likely referring to the CBI & ED's probes into Anil Deshmukh who turned against Param Bir Singh and vice-versa in the fallout of Sachin Vaze's arrest and unmasking in the Antilia Bomb Scare and Mansukh Hiran death case.

Extortion Cases against Param Bir Singh

Param Bir Singh has been named in four FIRs in connection to extortion cases - including by two bookies who accused Singh of extortion and falsely implicating them in cricket betting cases. Singh has already been accused by Police Inspector Bhimrao Ghadge of stopping the probe on collusion between builders and officials of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to dupe the State government of Rs 124 crore.

Ghadge alleged that Singh had ordered Ghadge to drop the names of three Municipal Commissioners, 12 KDMC officials and seven builders from the charge sheet and on refusing to do so led to Ghadge's wrongful imprisonment in a frivolous case till he was acquitted by a Sessions Court in September 2017. Singh has also been accused of allegedly demanding Rs 2 crores from Sharad Agrawal. Maharashtra govt is already probing Param Bir Singh in the Antilia bomb scare case as to how officers like API Sachin Vaze – who has been arrested in connection with the case went rogue under his tenure. On October 22, the Bhima Koregaon Inquiry Commission, Pune, had also issued summons to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, asking him to appear in person before the commission on November 8.