Extortion case against Param Bir Singh: Thane Police take custody of arrested builders

A metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday granted Thane Police transit remand of builders Sanjay Punamiya and Sunil Jain who were arrested by Marine Drive police on July 22 in the ₹20-crore extortion case in which former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and six other police officers are also named as accused.

A metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday granted Thane Police transit remand of builders Sanjay Punamiya and Sunil Jain who were arrested by Marine Drive police on July 22 in the ₹20-crore extortion case in which former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and six other police officers are also named as accused.

Former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and six other police officers are named as accused in the case along with two builders. (HT FILE)

A case has also been registered against Singh, some other police officers and the two builders at Kopri police station in Thane.

The 14-day police custody of the two accused builders ended on Thursday after which they were produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

Kopri police then moved an application and sought transit remand of the two. Punamiya’s lawyer Subhash Jha opposed the plea, contending that his client’s health condition was not good and needed medical treatment.

Special prosecutor Shekhar Jagtap, however, submitted that medical examination of the accused carried out in the past 48 hours showed he had no serious health issues. The court then directed police to take Punamiya to Sir JJ Hospital for medical examination.

The court also granted transit remand of the two accused to Kopri police, who will produce them in Thane court on Friday and seek their further custody in the Kopri case.

A special investigation team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police is probing the Marine Drive case under the supervision of deputy commissioner of police (local arms) Nimit Goyal.

According to SIT, one of the two builders, believed to be close to Singh, claimed to have “settled” between 1,000 and 1,500 cases registered under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) using their clout in the police department.

SIT is probing a first information report (FIR) filed based on a complaint by builder Shyamsundar Agrawal who alleged that Juhu police had filed a MCOCA case accusing him of having links with the underworld. Agrawal claimed that based on this false case, Singh and his subordinates extorted money from him at the behest of Punamiya.