Param Bir Singh moves Bombay HC, seeks orders to disband Chandiwal Commission

Singh, currently posted as the commandant general, Maharashtra Home Guards, has moved the high court challenging the July 30 order by which the one-man commission rejected his objection to the continuation of the inquiry

Former Mumbai police commissioner (CP) Param Bir Singh on Wednesday moved the Bombay high court (HC) seeking orders to disband Justice (retired) Kailas Uttamchand Chandiwal’s enquiry commission days after the one-person probe rejected Singh’s objection to its maintainability.

Former Mumbai top cop Parambir Singh. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The state government on March 30 appointed a single-member commission headed by the former judge to probe the allegations that Singh made in a letter to the chief minister regarding the then home minister Anil Deshmukh, whom he accused of running an extortion racket.

The panel was given six months to examine whether Singh submitted proof to establish that Deshmukh or any staffer from his office committed any offence/ misconduct as alleged in the letter; whether specific allegations raised by Singh merited investigation by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau or any other agency; as well as to offer any recommendations that it deemed fit.

Singh, currently posted as the Commandant General, Maharashtra Home Guards, moved the HC to challenge the commission’s July 30 rejection of his objection to its continuation.

Singh contended that the issues referred to the commission were already adjudicated on by the Bombay HC and the Supreme Court and thus there was no need for the Chandiwal probe.

Singh’s petition stated that the HC on April 5 ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a preliminary enquiry into Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh. The Supreme Court upheld the HC’s conclusion that Singh’s letter prima facie disclosed cognisable offence and required probe by an independent agency.

On July 22, HC dismissed separate petitions filed by Deshmukh and the state government for quashing of the FIR registered by the CBI against Deshmukh on April 21.

In the petition filed through advocate Anukul Seth, Singh contended that in the backdrop of the court orders nothing remained for the Chandiwal Commission to enquire into.

“Once the CBI has registered the FIR, the recommendation by the Enquiry Committee as to whether investigation by an independent agency is required or not is rendered meaningless,” said the petition. “There is no purpose to be achieved by such a recommendation.”

“The only purpose of the enquiry committee is to aid the State of Maharashtra to decide whether the contents of letter dated 20.03.2021 disclose an offense or not and whether the same are required to be investigated by an investigation agency,” states Singh’s petition. “One a definitive judgment has been delivered by the High Court and the Supreme Court on this very issue, very purpose of the Enquiry Committee does not survive,” the petition adds.

On March 20, three days after he was transferred out of the post of Mumbai CP, Singh shot off a letter to the CM and other officials, alleging that Deshmukh used to intermittently summon some Mumbai police officers, including the then deputy commissioner of police (enforcement) Raju Bhujbal, assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Patil (social service branch) and dismissed assistant inspector Sachin Vaze, to his official residence. Deshmukh gave the officers a target to collect ₹100 crore every month from dance bars, hookah parlours and bars and restaurants in Mumbai, Singh alleged in his letter.