Corruption case: CBI files 3 preliminary enquiries against Param Bir Singh
Param Bir Singh (58) is facing multiple cases of extortion, corruption and misconduct, and was removed from the post of Mumbai police chief over his alleged mishandling of the Antilia bomb scare case in 2021.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered three preliminary enquiries (PEs) against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh to investigate allegations of corruption, misconduct and misuse of his position, people familiar with the development said.
The PEs against the Indian Police Service (IPS) officer have been initiated in addition to five first information reports (FIRs) the CBI filed against him earlier this month.
Singh (58) is facing multiple cases of extortion, corruption and misconduct, and was removed from the post of Mumbai police chief over his alleged mishandling of the Antilia bomb scare case in 2021 — in which police officer Sachin Waze is an accused. Singh was then suspended from service in December 2021 and faces a show-cause notice of dismissal from service.
PE is to ascertain whether a FIR can be registered or not.
On March 24, the Supreme Court had asked the CBI to investigate the allegations against Singh while ordering the Maharashtra police to hand over all the cases and related documents to the premier anti-corruption agency.
One of the people cited above said the PEs, filed on Tuesday, are based on complaints filed by two Mumbai police inspectors and a social worker against Singh and other government officials in which serious allegations such as collection of bribes, using more than allotted officers as personal staff and purchase of benami properties were levelled.
After his suspension in 2021, Singh had written to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh, who was the state’s home minister at the time, had asked him and Waze to collect ₹100 crore from Mumbai’s hotels and bars each month. Both CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are already investigating allegations against Deshmukh. The former state home minister was arrested by the ED on November 2.
Singh had subsequently absconded for almost six months before finally showing up in November last year before a judicial commission. The Supreme Court had granted him protection from arrest the same month.
While ordering a CBI probe in the matter, a bench of justices SK Kaul and MM Sundresh said on March 24: “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…is something the investigation must go into.”
