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SC junks Maharashtra Govt’s plea opposing CBI probe against Param Bir Singh
The Uddhav Thackeray government had filed the appeal in May this year against the Supreme Court order handing over five FIRs registered against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh to CBI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by the Maharashtra government in May, urging the court to review its order on shifting investigations against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh from the state police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh found no merit in the review petition moved by the state government against the March 24 order. It further shot down the state’s request to hear its lawyer in open court. Review petitions are usually decided in judges’ chamber, without oral arguments.
“We have perused the review petition and record of the criminal appeal and are convinced that the order of which review has been sought, does not suffer from any error apparent warranting its reconsideration. Accordingly, the review petition is dismissed,” said the court order on Wednesday.
Asserting that an impartial probe is necessary to regain public confidence in the system, the top court on March 24 transferred the probe into all criminal cases lodged by Maharashtra police against Param Bir Singh to CBI at the request of the senior police officer, who alleged a witch-hunt against him. The bench also directed the state to hand over all documents related to five first information reports (FIRs) against Singh to CBI, adding all future FIRs relatable to Singh’s tenure as Mumbai police commissioner shall also be transferred to the central agency.
While passing its order in March, the court noted that CBI is already conducting an investigation into Singh’s complaint accusing former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh of running an alleged extortion racket using the police, and that the agency should now examine if the FIRs against Singh are linked with the “battle royale” between the IPS officer and the NCP leader. The agency, in its response before the court, had expressed its willingness to take over the investigations.
“Exigencies and advancement of principles of justice and fair play and impartial inquiry require the investigation to be transferred to the CBI...We are not saying that the appellant (Singh) is a whistleblower... What is the truth, who is at fault, how does such a scenario come to prevail…(it) is something the investigation must go into,” the March order said, rejecting the state government’s request to let the police continue its probe.
It also underlined that a “murky churning” of disputes between Deshmukh and Singh turned into a “battle royale, giving rise to unfortunate proceedings” and therefore, “CBI must hold an impartial inquiry into all these aspects regarding allegations, leading to the registration of FIRs (against Singh) have a ring of truth or are only repercussions of petitioner raising a red flag.”
The troubling situation arising at the higher echelons has presented before us a situation like the present one, said the court in March, while also staying the departmental inquiries initiated against Singh, who was suspended from service in December 2021 and faces a show-cause notice of dismissal from service.
Singh, in his petition filed in November 2021, alleged that as a consequence of this complaint, which he addressed to the state chief minister in April 2020, false criminal cases were foisted upon him at the behest of some criminals against whom, he took action during his tenure as the commissioner of Mumbai Police. The FIRs against him invoke charges of extortion, corruption and atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Singh was transferred for his handling of the Antilla bomb scare case in 2021, where an officer of Mumbai police, Sachin Waze, was named the main accused by the National Investigation Agency. He subsequently wrote a letter to Maharashtra’s chief minister making his allegations against Deshmukh. Deshmukh is currently behind bars in connection with cases launched by CBI and Enforcement Directorate for alleged corruption and money laundering.
After being transferred, and with cases being filed against him, Singh went incommunicado for months, leading to speculation that he had fled India, before appearing before the Supreme Court last last year, at its insistence, and being granted protection against arrest by Mumbai Police.
