Anil Deshmukh, a former home minister told the Justice K U Chandiwal commission that the then Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh when summoned to the council hall was in the dark and was shivering when asked about the planting of explosives in an SUV parked near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and murder of the vehicle owner, Mansukh Hiran.
Justice Chandiwal is probing into the allegations made by Singh in his March 20, 2021, letter to the chief minister levelling allegations against Deshmukh of demanding assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze (now dismissed) to collect money from bar owners for him. Later, Singh almost backed out, saying he would neither like to depose before the commission nor he would like to be cross-examined by the witnesses.
Vipin Gaur a senior journalist said, “The person who is highly educated and who is government employed cannot make wild allegations, that would risk his job and career. He could land up in jail. What I understand is, he has some proof. He knows the whole government can be against him, and even defamation cases can be there. Cops just follow the orders. The home minister made a statement that he will file a defamation case against Param Bir instead Param Bir went to SC for an inquiry against HM. He has written a letter and he is definitely sitting on some kind of proof.”
Anil Deshmukh said, “When myself and three additional chief secretaries sought details of the incident, Singh was virtually shivering. He told us he was unaware of the bomb scare episode. We insisted upon Singh, when Vaze was so proximate to him, how it could be that he was unaware of the event.” Further, he said, “when a few senior officers suggested transferring the probe to the anti-terrorism squad (ATS), Singh opposed and insisted that Mumbai police continue the investigation. On March 6, 2021, a decision was taken to entrust the probe to the ATS, and on the same day Vaze was shifted out of the crime intelligence unit.”
When Vaze’s counsel Yogesh Naidu asked Deshmukh about the dismissed cop’s style of functioning, he said his pattern of working was discussed and indicated in the report submitted by the joint commissioner of police Milind Bharambe on March 30, 2021. Deshmukh said he agreed with part of the report where it was mentioned that Vaze was not reporting to senior officials in the crime branch and that he restrained all his subordinates from reporting to senior crime branch officials and in all sensitive cases, he used to accompany Singh for a briefing to the cabinet members.
When asked if Bharambe was asked to conduct a probe into Singh’s letter, Deshmukh said he was not aware. “As home minister, I never asked Bharambe to conduct an inquiry. I have no idea as to whether the CM directed such an inquiry.”
Journalism Pramesh Jain said, “Param Bir Singh is not a saint. The Sushant Singh episode and continued attacks by Republic TV got a lot of humiliation to Singh and the Mumbai police department, the entire world was suspecting them of the conspiracy, social media and Tv news succeeded in creating the wrong perception of Mumbai Police and Maharashtra Government. In damage control mode Vaze and Singh might have planted explosives in an SUV parked near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and murdered the vehicle owner, Mansukh Hiran. Killing is not new for cops, Vaze is known for killing many youths for his so-called cop image. They never imagined that the things would boomerang them.”
Sangita Amladi, a former Reserve Bank employee said, “I don’t believe Param Bir Singh, when he gets such information, being an IPS and working for the Central government, would he keep this hidden and suddenly after retirement decide to grow a conscience? I also don’t believe the home minister of the richest state in India would need to collect chanda and hafta like underworld Bhai. In cities like Mumbai- the bars and pubs pay the local police stations and the cut goes upwards but never beyond corporators who already pay crores to the party corpus for their nominations.”
