Param Bir Singh appears before Thane Police

Param Bir Singh, who is the director general of home guards, on Friday visited the Thane Nagar police station for probe in connection with an extortion case registered against him

A day after he appeared before the Mumbai Police crime branch for inquiry, director general of home guards Param Bir Singh on Friday visited the Thane Nagar police station for probe in connection with a case registered against him on the basis of an extortion complaint by businessman Ketan Tanna in July.

Ex-Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh leaves Thane Court after the court cancelled the non-bailable warrant against him. (Praful Gangurde/ HT PHOTO)

According to a senior officer, the former Mumbai top cop was reached the police station around 10.30am and was questioned till evening.

The other accused in the extortion case include deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Deepak Devraj, assistant commissioner of police NT Kadam, retired encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, senior inspector Rajkumar Kothmire and gangster Ravi Pujari. Tanna has alleged that the accused cops had extorted crores of rupees from him and his friend businessman Sonu Jalan in 2018. Jalan had been arrested in connection with a betting racket by the Thane crime branch’s anti extortion cell (AEC) the same year.

Sources said Singh was questioned in connection with the allegations made against him as well as over the original case filed by AEC against Jalan, in which the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) had been invoked. In the presence of senior officers, including DCP (zone 1) Avinash Ambure, Singh was questioned about invoking MCOCA as well as over evidence against Jalan.

“He also appeared before the Thane sessions court, which had issued a non-bailable warrant against him last month, around 3.30pm. The court has cancelled the warrant. Subsequently, he came back to the police station and the questioning resumed,” an officer said.

After several hours of questioning, Singh finally left from the police station around 7 pm. While the Supreme Court has granted him blanket protection from arrest in the cases registered against him, officers said the former top cop might be called again for inquiries.