Why should central agencies trust Param Bir Singh who has fled country: Maharashtra minister Jayant Patil

Param Bir Singh. File Pic

Maharashtra cabinet minister and state NCP chief Jayant Patil has asked why the central agencies should trust the allegations of former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh who has fled the country.

State home minister Dilip Walse-Patil had told reporters on September 30 that a look-out notice had been issued against Singh following inputs that he might have left the country, but there was no concrete information.

"Why should the central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, trust Param Bir Singh who has fled the country," Patil said, addressing NCP workers at Yevla-Lasalgaon, the constituency of Chhagan Bhujbal, another minister in the state government. Singh had alleged earlier this year that NCP leader Anil Deshmukh, then state home minister, wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore monthly from bars and hotels in Mumbai. Deshmukh resigned after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe into the allegations.

The state police, on the other hand, registered multiple cases of extortion against the IPS officer following his sensational allegations against Deshmukh. Patil, meanwhile, also claimed that the "BJP's machinery" earlier tried to put Bhujbal in jail but the court gave him a clean chit, and now the saffron party was targeting Deshmukh.

Efforts were being made to malign the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state and divert attention from real issues, he further alleged. A court in Mumbai recently discharged Bhujbal, a senior NCP leader, in the alleged Maharashtra Sadan scam case for want of evidence.

Bhujbal was also doing good work on the issue of restoration of OBC reservations in local bodies, Patil said. Patil, who holds the water resources portfolio, also assured that the state government will provide help to the farmers who lost crops due to the recent spell of heavy rains.

Also Read: Won't arrest Param Bir Singh in atrocities act case till Oct 21, Maharashtra govt tells Bombay HC

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