Param Bir untraceable, minister says agencies trying to find whereabouts

State Congress chief Nana Patole questioned whether the Centre had helped Param Bir Singh to flee the country.

Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Thursday said that investigating agencies were looking for former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who has been incommunicado for the past two months, amid reports of his leaving the country in a section of the media, adding the state government was in touch with the Centre on the issue.

Parambir Singh. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

“Any civil service officer needs the approval of the central government (for leaving the country). The Union home ministry is also searching for his whereabouts. We have no clue about his whereabouts and we too are searching him,” he said.

The minister said it was not appropriate if Singh has fled the country. “There will be action taken against him. It could be under various provisions of the law. It could be a disciplinary action for remaining absent from the duty without informing the authorities. The action is not important, his appearance before the agencies is important. The action against him by the state government is not out of any vendetta but it is a routine procedure which will be followed,” he said in Mumbai.

Singh was removed as Mumbai top cop on March 17, following the Antilia explosives scare and subsequent murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran. He was shifted to the Maharashtra home guards on March 22.

On April 7, Singh appeared before the National Investigation Agency for recording his statement in connection with the two cases. Later, he was summoned by the federal agency, but he did not respond to the summons.

State Congress chief Nana Patole questioned whether the Centre had helped Singh to flee the country. “...The investigating agencies have raised doubts about his whereabouts but the question remains unanswered if the Centre facilitated him to go out of the country.”