'Serious and unforgivable mistakes': Maharashtra minister on why Mumbai police chief was transferred

Param Bir Singh was transferred on Wednesday amid the controversy over last month’s bomb scare outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and subsequent arrest of former police officer Sachin Vaze.

A day after Mumbai police commissioner Pram Bir Singh was shunted out by the Maharashtra government, a state minister gave the reason for the decision. Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said on Thursday that Singh was transferred after some of his colleagues committed "serious and unforgivable mistakes".

Param Bir Singh. (HT archive)

"This is not an administrative transfer (of Singh). Some things have come to light through the probes conducted by the NIA (National Investigation Agency) and the ATS (Anti-Terror Squad)," Deshmukh said at an event in Mumbai, according to news agency PTI.

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"Some of the colleagues of the (former) Mumbai police chief (Singh) committed some serious mistakes. Those are unforgivable mistakes. Hence, he was transferred," Deshmukh further said in his first public comments after Singh's transfer.

The minister said that action will be taken against whoever is found guilty in the respective probes by the NIA and ATS.

Singh was transferred on Wednesday amid the controversy over last month’s bomb scare outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and subsequent arrest of former police officer Sachin Vaze.

Although Singh, a 1988-batch officer, was transferred in a minor reshuffle of top police posts, it was clear that the ruling coalition - comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress - held him responsible for the inept handling of the bomb scare case.

Vaze’s Saturday arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is said to be the reason behind his sudden transfer.

Vaze, an "encounter specialist", has also been facing heat in the murder case of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of that SUV. Hiran was found dead in a creek in Thane district on March 5.

Maharashtra Police's ATS is investigating the Hiran murder case. It had registered an FIR against unidentified persons days after Hiran's body was found.

Hiran's wife accused Vaze of involvement in her husband's suspicious death.