By Sahil Joshi: The Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra has dropped all charges against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. The state government revoked the suspension orders issued against Param Bir Singh in December 2021, and ordered the suspension period to be treated as ‘on duty’.
The previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra had suspended Param Bir Singh for “indiscipline and other irregularities”. The MVA government had also had initiated departmental inquiry against him.
WHY WAS PARAM BIR SINGH SUSPENDED?
Param Bir Singh was dismissed as the Mumbai police chief and transferred to the Home Guard in 2021 after an SUV with explosives was discovered near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai and police officer Sachin Waze was arrested in the case.
Param Bir Singh later accused the then state home minister Anil Deshmukh of asking Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore from hotels and bars in Mumbai every month.
Anil Deshmukh denied these charges and claimed these were Param Bir Singh’s attempts to escape action against him for the security lapses outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai house, where a bomb scare took place on February 25, 2021.
Param Bir Singh was also facing several extortion and corruption charges. A case of extortion was registered in July 2021 against Param Bir Singh and 28 others, including six police officers. They were accused of extorting money from a builder.
Complainant Ketan Tanna had alleged that Param Bir Singh, during his time as the Thane Police commissioner from January 2018 to February 2019, had extorted Rs 1.25 crore from him. Tanna alleged that Param Bir Singh had threatened to frame him up in “serious criminal cases”.
Another extortion case was registered against Param Bir Singh at Goregaon police station on the complaint of builder-cum-hotelier Bimal Agrawal. Agarwal had alleged that Param Bir Singh extorted Rs 9 lakh from him for not conducting a raid on two bars and restaurants, which he ran in partnership, and also forced him to buy two smartphones worth around Rs 2.92 lakh for them. The complaint alleged that the incident occurred between January 2020 and March 2021.
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