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Param Bir arrives in Mumbai to join probe
Singh, 56, now the commandant general, Maharashtra home guards, landed in the city airport at 10.30am and headed for the office of Mumbai Unit 11 of the Mumbai Police crime branch, where he was interrogated till 6.10pm in connection with an extortion case registered against him.
Three days after he was granted protection from arrest by the Supreme Court, and one day after he resurfaced in Chandigarh, former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh arrived in the Maharashtra capital.
Singh, 56, now the commandant general, Maharashtra home guards, landed in the city airport at 10.30am and headed for the office of Mumbai Unit 11 of the Mumbai Police crime branch, where he was interrogated till 6.10pm in connection with an extortion case registered against him.
For months before he resurfaced, Singh was incommunicado, fuelling rumours that he had fled the country.
Watch: Param Bir Singh quizzed in extortion case; reappears after months in 'hiding' I Key Details
His interrogation was supervised by Nilotpal Mishra, a deputy commissioner of police, crime branch.
Singh was removed as Mumbai Police chief on March 17, by a state government under fire for its handling of the Antilla bomb scare case, where gelatin sticks were found in a SUV near the residence of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, along with a threatening note addressing the businessman. The National Investigation Agency has said that Sachin Vaze, a politically connected policeman, was behind that (the motive, according to the agency, was to regain his stature, dented by a lengthy suspension from the force) as well as the murder of the car’s owner.
Three days later, on March 20, the senior Indian Police Service officer sent an explosive letter to the chief minister and also released it to the media, alleging that the then home minister Anil Deshmukh instructed certain Mumbai police officials, including Vaze, to collect an amount of ₹100 crore every month from bar owners in Mumbai.
Two days later, on March 22, Singh took charge of the post of commandant general, Maharashtra home guards. He last attended the office on May 4 and went on leave from May 5, citing health issues. Till mid-August, he communicated with the Maharashtra home department, requesting for extension of his leave due to health grounds. But, thereafter he became incommunicado, as by then five criminal cases were registered against him in Mumbai and Thane, fuelling rumours that he might have fled abroad to avoid the Maharashtra Police. Simultaneously , the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case against Deshmukh over the allegations.
The case in which Singh was interrogated was one of these cases, registered on August 20 on the basis of a complaint lodged by hotelier Bimal Agarwal, who alleged that Singh, dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze and civilians Sumeet Singh, Alpesh Patel, Vinay Ramnarayan Singh aka Bablu and Riyaz Bhati extorted ₹11.92 lakh from him by threatening to register cases against Boho Restaurant and BCB Bar, owned by him.
Agarwal claimed that he paid ₹9 lakh in cash and gave two Samsung Fold-2 mobile phones worth ₹2,12,000 to meet their demands. After taking over investigation in the case, Unit 11 of the crime branch arrested Sumeet, Alpesh and Vaze, who had already been arrested by the NIA in the Antilia explosives scare and the connected murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran.
During his interrogation, Singh, a senior Mumbai crime branch officer who did not wish to named said, was evasive, denied all allegations levelled against him, and maintained that he had no knowledge about the facts of the case.
The official said a questionnaire with over 45 questions was prepared for Singh’s interrogation. Singh spoke in English and responded to most of questions in the negative. The official added that the IPS officer was specifically asked questions relating to the 64 phone calls between Vaze and complainant Bimal Agarwal that took place earlier this year, mentioning his (Singh’s) name. In one call, Vaze referred to Singh as “Number 1”. Singh denied all knowledge of the calls.
The official said Singh might be interrogated again.
Param Bir Singh’s lawyer Ramesh Mokashi said,” As per Supreme Court directions, we have joined probe. We have answered all questions asked by investigating officer and will continue to cooperate in all the cases. We restrain ourselves from commenting anything further.”
When asked if Singh will present himself before the Chandiwal commission, the lawyer said, “Yes, we have no issues.”
Singh’s return to Mumbai was set in earlier this week.
On November 22, his counsel senior advocate Puneet Bali informed the Supreme Court that the former Mumbai Police chief was in India, but apprehensive of coercive action by the Maharashtra Police. The apex court then granted him protection from arrest, but also directed him to join investigations in the cases.
Singh is also expected to appear before investigating officers of the other four cases against him -- one more in Mumbai and three at Thane.
The first case registered against Singh, on April 28, at Kalyan was on the basis of complaint by BR Ghadge, a police inspector from Akola who claimed that Singh and others pressurised him to drop corruption charges against three Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) chiefs and some civic officials.
On July 26, the Marine Drive police in Mumbai registered a second FIR against Singh and several others following complaint lodged by builder Shyamsunder Agrawal, alleging extortion demands of ₹20 crore by Singh and his subordinates. The same day police arrested builder Sanjay Punamiya and his associate Sunil Jain as they were named as co-accused in the case.
The third FIR against Singh was registered at Kopri police station at Thane and also relates to Agrawal. In 2016, Agrawal was arrested in a case at Thane and while he was in jail, Punamiya and his associate Sunil Jain allegedly demanded money from Agrawal’s nephew Sharad by claiming that Param Bir Singh was Punamiya’s friend and if the money was not paid then they would falsely implicate Agrawal using Singh’s clout. The fourth case against Singh was registered at Thane Nagar police station in July on the basis of complaint lodged by builder Ketan Tanna, who claimed that Singh and his subordinates extorted crores of rupees from him, by threatening to kill him in a fake encounter.
From the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport, Singh went to the Crime Branch office in Kandivli on Thursday in his official vehicle allotted to him as a DG-rank police official.
