Despite the commission issuing multiple summonses and a bailable warrant against Singh, he has not appeared before it so far. The untraceable Param Bir Singh has become a topic of blame game between the ruling party and the opposition. He has been named in multiple 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-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to dupe the State government of Rs 124 crore.
Days after he was shunted out as Mumbai police commissioner and transferred to the Home Guards in March this year, Singh had claimed in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that Deshmukh used to ask police officers to collect money from restaurant and bar owners in Mumbai. Deshmukh resigned from the post of state home minister in April this year. The NCP leader has repeatedly denied the allegations against him. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are probing the allegations made against Deshmukh by Singh.
Param Bir Singh has submitted an affidavit before an inquiry commission probing his corruption allegations against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, saying he does not have any further evidence to share in the matter. Singh’s lawyer on Wednesday confirmed that the senior IPS officer submitted the affidavit in a previous hearing of the commission. In March this year, the Maharashtra government formed the one-member commission of retired Justice Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal to probe Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh.
Singh has submitted in the petition that Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had been holding meetings in February 2021 at his residence with police officers including Sachin Vaze of Crime Intelligence Unit, Mumbai and Shri Sanjay Patil, ACP Social Service Branch, Mumbai, bypassing their seniors and had instructed them that he had a target to accumulate Rs. 100 crores every month and had directed to collect money from various establishments and other sources.
Anil Deshmukh is already arrested and the probe is taking place in the entire allegation made by Param Bir Singh, in the meantime, Singh has gone untraceable. The question is that how come an officer leaves India without the support of authorities?
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut claimed that IPS officer Param Bir Singh had not fled, but with the Centre’s help he was made to move to a safe haven, that is a foreign land.” The BJP has hit back, with party leader Ashish Shelar alleging that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) may have helped Singh run away and could be “preparing the ground for him to seek political asylum” in a western country.
Raut in reply said, “When a person serving on a post equivalent to the director-general of police moves out of the country, he cannot do so without the support of the Union government. He has not absconded, but made to move out of the country.” Terming the arrest of former home minister Anil Deshmukh unethical, he said, “The central agencies have arrested Deshmukh based on Singh’s allegations. It is very unfortunate as his arrest is unethical.” Raut said that an investigation can be carried out on the basis of allegations, but Deshmukh was arrested on the first day of the ED inquiry.
Shelar, however, claimed that the Sena-led MVA had a motive in helping Singh flee. “The MVA government must have helped Singh to go missing, because if he gets caught, he may reveal some work done for leaders of the ruling parties,” he alleged. “Considering the number of cases filed against Singh, it seems to be a strategy for preparing the ground for the IPS officer to seek Political refuge in a particular western country. If you speak against the government, you are eligible for such safe haven.”
