Former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh booked for extortion
The Marine Drive police booked Singh, presently posted as commandant, Maharashtra Home Guards, four policemen and two civilians on charges of extortion, cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, etc
A fresh First Information Report (FIR) was registered against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday. This time, he was booked based on a complaint lodged by a builder alleging the senior IPS officer had demanded ₹15 crore from him through a DCP and four other policemen.
The Marine Drive police booked Singh, presently posted as commandant, Maharashtra Home Guards, four policemen and two civilians on charges of extortion, cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, etc.
Singh was booked in an atrocities case in April this year based on the complaint of a serving inspector of Akola police.
The complainant in the Marine Drive case had earlier been booked and arrested by the Mumbai Police crime branch when Singh was commissioner of police, Mumbai. Sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were also invoked against the builder and other accused persons in that case.
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Later, crime branch officers allegedly demanded ₹15 crore from the builder to drop his name from the case. He alleged that the crime branch officers were working on Singh’s instructions.
Singh and other accused persons were booked under sections 387 (Putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion), 388 (Extortion by threat of accusation of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, etc), 389 (Putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion), 403 (Dishonest misappropriation of property), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (Cheating), (423 Dishonest or fraudulent execution of deed of transfer containing false statement of consideration), 464 (Making a false document), 465 (Punishment for forgery and others of Indian Penal Code). Two people have already been arrested in the case.
Singh is facing multiple enquiries after he was shunted out from the Mumbai Police chief’s post in March 2021 for improperly handling the Antilia explosives scare case.
Later, Singh wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and alleged that then home minister Anil Deshmukh asked dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze and others to extort bar and pub owners in Mumbai for ₹100 crore every month.
Singh also approached the courts with his complaint, following which the Bombay high court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the matter, a move that forced Deshmukh’s resignation. Based on the CBI FIR, Enforcement Directorate launched a money-laundering probe against Deshmukh and also attached his properties over ₹4 crore a few days ago.
Singh is already facing multiple enquiries by state CID. Recently the Anti-Corruption Bureau initiated an open inquiry against him pertaining to corruption allegations made against him by police inspector Anup Dange.
Singh did not respond to calls and messages.