Mumbai: Extortion case against Param Bir Singh transferred to CID

Param Bir Singh. File Pic

The Maharashtra state home department on Wednesday directed Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale to transfer the case of extortion and cheating against Param Bir Singh and other officers to Maharashtra state Central Investigating Department (CID). So far the case was being investigated by a special investigating team (SIT) of Mumbai Police. Following the orders of the state government, the Mumbai police SIT will get disbanded.

According to sources, this development comes after the government took a review from senior officers, decided to club all cases against Singh and transfer it to CID which has wider jurisdiction.

"We have received the orders from the government and the case file will be handed over to the CID with immediate effect," a senior officer told mid-day.

The SIT started probing the case after an FIR was registered at the Marine Drive police station. Two civilians, Sanjay Punamia who is believed to be close aide of Singh and another person Sunil Jain were arrested by Marine Drive police. The Mumbai police commissioner later formed the SIT to investigate the matter further.

According to sources, the SIT has so far recorded the statement of PI and ACP rank officers who are named in the FIR as accused.

The case was registered based on a complaint given by builder Shyam Sundar Agarwal that said, Singh along with other officers extorted money and took his property by threatening to arrest him under MCOCA. The Mumbai police found that MCOCA slapped against Agarwal was false and it was done with malicious intentions by misusing power. If sources are to be believed, two more cases registered against Singh in Thane are also likely to be transferred to CID.

So far, this is the third case the state CID is going to probe against Singh. The CID is already probing police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge who had lodged an FIR with the Kalyan police against Singh and 32 other officers alleging that while he was probing a cheating case pertaining to Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) officials, Singh misused his official position and submitted a closure report despite there being strong documentary evidence.

The CID also probed the cricket bookie Sonu Jalan's allegations that Singh and other police officers booked false cases to extort money from him. The Thane police later registered an FIR in that case as well after the report was submitted by CID to DGP.