Has Param Bir fled India, wonder agencies

NIA and State CID didn’t find Param Bir Singh at his addresses in Chandigarh and Haryana. File pic/Ashish Raje

Despite summons issued to him in August by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), former city top cop Param Bir Singh is nowhere to be found. Both the NIA and the state government suspect that he has fled the country fearing an arrest in various cases. NIA had summoned Singh in connection with the Antilia explosives scare and the Mansukh Hiran murder cases.

Singh's statement as a witness was first recorded by the NIA in April to get clarity related to dismissed cop Sachin Waze. Waze had been directly reporting to Singh at the time when the cases took place. The NIA's charge sheet, filed recently, has details of circumstantial evidence and statements of witnesses that point to Singh and his possible involvement in the conspiracies. According to NIA sources, Singh was summoned again sometime in August, but he did not respond. The officers also visited his residence in Chandigarh and Rohtak in Haryana but could not find him.

The agency is not ruling out the possibility that Singh may have fled. "Our investigation is still on and we are not in a position to rule out anything. We have the link of his possible involvement based on the details received from Apple and some other details are awaited. The summons has been issued to him and there is no response. As far as his location is concerned, we are not sure, but there is a possibility that he has left the country," said a source.

Why the suspicion

Singh was summoned for questioning following the recording of a statement by a cyber expert in August. The cyber expert said that Singh paid him Rs 5 lakh to modify a report related to the Jaish-Ul-Hind hind claiming responsibility for placing the explosives-laden car near Antilia. The agency got more suspicious about his involvement in the third week of August after an intelligence officer, who was associated with Singh since 2006, gave the details of his FaceTime ID - Kurkure Balaji. In a response to the agency, the smartphone giant Apple had confirmed that an ID with the same username was used to communicate with the killers of Hiran.

Details on more IDs

According to sources, the NIA is also waiting for a response regarding another FaceTime ID, indunited'''', from both Apple and Google. Google at first had said that it cannot share information due to its customer policies but asked for more information from the agency to give an appropriate response. Sources said that this ID, too, was used to have secret communication about the conspiracy.

Queries to the NIA regarding any Lookout Circular issued against Singh or evidence of him having fled the country went unanswered.
Apart from NIA, the State CID and the Anti-Corruption Bureau are also looking for Singh. "Our officers visited Chandigarh, Rohtak and one more location but Singh is not available," a source from Maharashtra police said.

Unavailable since May

A source from the state government has said that the State Home Department has been trying to communicate with Singh ever since he went on leave on May 5. "There has been absolutely no communication from him." A source from the Home Department said that there are five FIRs registered against him in Mumbai, Thane and three of them are being investigated by the CID, one by Mumbai and one by Thane police. The State CID and Thane police have issued Lookout Circulars against the accused, including Singh.

April
Month Param Bir first recorded a statement as a witness

May
Month Param Bir went on leave