Extortion case: Where is former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh?

DG Home Guard Param Bir Singh. File pic

The Maharashtra government has not received any communication from DG Home Guard, Param Bir Singh, who is on leave since May 4. Since he was transferred from the post of the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai in March following the bomb scare episode outside the Ambani home, Singh reported to office for few days and then went on medical leave. His medical leave was extended to August 29 and he is supposed to report to work on Monday. However, government sources have told mid-day that there is no communication from Singh and his mobile phone has been switched off for the past few days.

As DGP Home Guard, Singh directly reports to the state government, and on two occasions he had informed his department that he was going to undergo some surgery, and wouldn't be able to report due to medical reasons. First he went on leave citing medical reasons from May 4 to July 17 and then he took two extensions, one till August 7 and the other till August 29. "There is no fresh communication from him as of yet," an officer from the DG Home Guard said.

Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey, when contacted, said that the DG Home Guard reports to the government, not to him. mid-day also reached out to a senior IAS officer in the state government, who confirmed that there was no communication from Singh. "He is supposed to report and communicate with his department before his joining, but as per my knowledge there is no communication so far. He has responded to the summons issued by the Justice Chandiwal committee appointed by the government but not appearing before the committee," the IAS officer said.

Also read: Extortion case filed against Mumbai police DCP, two other cops

Fined for not appearing

The state government-appointed one-member committee headed by retired judge K U Chandiwal had imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Singh as he failed to appear before it. Earlier in June the committee had imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Singh. Singh has challenged the legality of the committee before the Bombay High Court.

Singh was also summoned by the Enforcement Directorate which is probing the money laundering case in connection with Anil Deshmukh's case. Singh had also responded to ED that because of medical reasons he won't be able to present himself and had sought some time.

The Maharashtra government has registered five FIRs against Singh with serious allegations of extortion. Two FIRs were registered in Mumbai. Two FIRs were registered in Thane and one was registered in Akola district and later transferred to Thane. The Mumbai police initially formed a SIT to probe the Marine Drive case headed by DCP Nimit Goyal.

The SIT had recorded the statement of PI and ACP rank officers named in the FIR."Our probe was at a very initial stage and there is prima facie evidence against the lower rank officers. We were probing the ex-CP's role but the case got at transferred to state CID as they have wider scope to investigate," an officer of Mumbai police said.

The state CID has already issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Singh and others named in the FIR at Akola which also got transferred to them. The CID has alerted airports to ensure that the accused doesn't flee the country. The Thane police has also issued an LOC against Singh. According to sources, Singh's cell phone has been switched off. For the past week mid-day reporters have also been sending messages and trying to reach out to him, but the phone is switched off and there is no response for the messages as well. The messages sent on WhatsApp remained undelivered.