An inquiry commission headed by a retired Bombay High Court judge on Tuesday issued a bailable warrant against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh for failing to appear before it, PTI reported.
In March, the Maharashtra government formed the panel and asked Justice (retired) Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal to investigate the corruption allegations levelled by Singh against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
When a bailable warrant is issued, the court can recall order, cancel warrants and not take an individual into custody if they appear on the mentioned date.
However, Singh has skipped appearance before the commission thrice since its constitution. The commission has imposed a total fine of Rs 30,000 on Singh.
The commission had six months to determine if Singh’s allegations needed to be scrutinised by the anti-corruption bureau, the Hindustan Times reported. It was also supposed to check if Singh has submitted enough evidence to establish Deshmukh’s crime.
In August, Singh had appealed to the Bombay High Court to disband the commission after it had rejected his objection to its continuation.
Singh, who is currently the commandant general of Maharashtra Home Guards, had accused Deshmukh and Crime Branch officer Sachin Vaze of corruption in March. Vaze was dismissed in May.
In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Singh said Vaze told him that Deshmukh had asked him to collect Rs 100 crore every month through illegal channels.
Vaze was sent to the custody of the National Investigation Agency for his alleged role in placing the explosives-laden vehicle at Carmichael Road, near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai, on March 15.
Two days later, Singh, who was handling the investigation, was transferred from his position to the Home Guard.
FIRs against Singh
Meanwhile, there is a lookout notice and multiple FIRs against Singh. A look-out notice is issued to prevent a person from leaving the country.
In July, Singh and 27 others were booked for extortion in Thane based on a complaint by businessman Ketan Tanna. He had alleged that when Singh was the Thane police commissioner between January 2018 and February 2019, he extorted Rs 1.25 crore from him by threatening to frame him in serious criminal cases.
Another case of extortion has been registered against Singh and former Thane Deputy Commissioner of Police Parag Manere at the city’s Kopri police station. In this case too, the police want to issue a look-out notice against Singh, an unidentified police official told PTI.
A case was also lodged in Mumbai’s Goregaon police station following a complaint by a 48-year-old businessman, Bimal Agarwal. He alleged that the accused took Rs 9 lakh in cash and two mobile phones worth Rs 2.92 lakh from him.
In exchange, the accused reportedly assured him that the police would not harass him in connection with the hotels.
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