Sachin Vaze was very close to the ruling party and former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh. After being shoved from the office of the Commissioner of Mumbai over the alleged involvement in the Vaze-gate, Param Bir Singh has gone missing. He presently holds the office of Director General of Home Guard of the state and has not shown up to work in the past two months. Some say he is going through depression and some say he is hiding to prevent himself from the arrest.
He has come at the receiving end of a political attack. There is already a demand for his ‘removal’ from the police department. Though Param Bir Singh was removed from his position on March 17 as the Mumbai Police Commissioner and pushed to a “low-key” position as Commandant General, Home Guards, for mismanagement into an explosive-laden vehicle found near Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Antilia in February, in which Sachin Vaze has been arrested by NIA.
The focus of the inquiry was to find out how officers like Vaze – who has been arrested in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case, went rogue while working under the then Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh. Singh made allegations against the former home minister Anil Deshmukh but could not prove himself.
In the past, too, Singh had courted controversies. None other than Sadhvi Pragya, who was jailed for the Malegaon blast, had named Param Bir Singh along with Hemant Karkare (who died in infamous Pakistani terrorist siege on Nov 26/2008) and Suvarna Shinde for torturing and manhandling her to extract some ‘false confession’.
Even Lt. Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit had alleged that Param Bir Singh and other officials had tortured him. Purohit’s letter was also sent to the National Human Rights Commission. When Uddhav Thackeray – heading the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance regime made Singh the police commissioner of Mumbai, the talk in the town was that Fadnavis himself laid the foundation for the same.
After all, it is said that the police commissioner in the satellite city of Thane is only a stepping-stone to head the cops in the country’s commercial and entertainment capital – Mumbai. Singh also had other controversies. As chief of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), he had given a clean chit to the incumbent Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the much talked about irrigation scam.
Even while getting the crucial post of Mumbai police commissioner, Param Bir Singh had outwitted three other strong contenders – D Kanakratnam, Rashmi Shukla and Sadanand Date. Of course, Param Bir Singh was once hailed for taking on Don Arun Gawli. But it was alleged in 2008-09 by the then Mumbai police commissioner, Hasan Gafoor, that during the November 26, 2008 (26/11) siege of Mumbai, that Param Bir Singh – as the IGP – was found guilty of dereliction of duties.
Param Bir Singh, an IPS officer of the 1988 batch, has been named as the new Commissioner of Police for Mumbai. The outgoing commissioner, Sanjay Barve, who had already been given two extensions, retires on Saturday from police service. Singh is at present Director General of Police for Anti-Corruption Bureau (DG-ACB).
Known to be a dashing police officer, Prambir Singh has had an illustrious career. He shot to fame first during his stint as Deputy Commissioner of Police of the famed Crime Branch in Mumbai in the late 1990s. He played a key role in tackling underworld-related crimes back then.
Several officers, other than Parambir Singh, were in the race to become Mumbai CP. They included Hemant Nagrale, Rashmi Shukla, Rajnish Seth, Bipin Bihari and Sadanand Date, who recently returned to Mumbai after completing his five-year deputation at the Centre.
Singh has held many important posts in the Maharashtra police. Before becoming DG-ACB, he had served as the Commissioner of Police at Thane. It was during his tenure as CP, Thane that he arrested Iqbal Kaskar, brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, in an extortion case. He also busted a major drug cartel during his tenure in Thane. He had also served as the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) in the state.
Then, on April 29, the Maharashtra government ordered a second inquiry against Param Bir Singh based on the corruption allegations levelled by inspector Anoop Dange. Claiming that Singh demanded Rs. 2 crores for revoking his suspension, Dange accused him of saving some people with underworld connections when he was the DG of the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Thereafter, an FIR was filed against Parambir Singh and 32 others based on a complaint given by Police Inspector Bhimrao Ghade just days ago.
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