Messy, most unfortunate for people: SC on Maha Govt Vs Param Bir

The “messy” battle between the Maharashtra government and Mumbai’s former police commissioner Param Bir Singh could shake people’s confidence both in the police force as well as their elected representatives, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, even as it restrained the state government from investigating all criminal cases against Singh.

“It is a messy state of affairs and nobody comes out washed in milk after this. Let us say it, this is a very unfortunate state of affairs. It has the propensity of unnecessarily shaking the confidence of people both in the police system and electoral system of choosing representatives,” rued a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh.

The court further remarked it is time to take a call on whether the investigation in all five criminal cases against Singh should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as demanded by the IPS officer.

Singh, who has been booked under charges of extortion, corruption and criminal intimidation, has alleged a witch-hunt against him by the Maharashtra government.

“This is a most unfortunate state of affairs. Having said it, the process of law must follow...The matter is such that we have to take a call one way or the other,” stated the court, fixing March 9 for hearing the case finally.

The bench was hearing Singh’s petition for the transfer of investigation in six criminal cases from Mumbai Police to CBI.

At present, CBI is conducting an investigation into Singh’s complaint accusing former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh of running an alleged extortion racket using the police. The Bombay high court directed a CBI probe against Deshmukh on April 5 last year, and the Supreme Court affirmed this order on April 8, 2021.

Singh, in his petition filed in November 2021, alleged that as a consequence of this complaint, which he also addressed to 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. He was suspended from service by the state government on December 2, 2021.

In previous hearings on November 22 and December 6, the bench granted protection from arrest to Singh in the extortion cases while also asking the Mumbai Police from filing the charge sheet against him in these cases.

But on Tuesday, the bench took note that the Mumbai Police had submitted a charge sheet in one of the five criminal cases, involving Singh. While the state government maintained that the charge sheet was filed not against Singh but only against the co-accused in the case, the bench opined that completion of investigation by the local police may have some repercussions should the court ask CBI to take over.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was representing CBI, submitted that all the cases against Singh should also be investigated by the agency and that an ongoing probe by the local police may prejudice the cases if the court finally decides to transfer all the cases to CBI.

“State authorities should not do anything that makes the task of this court difficult should this court finally decide handing over the probe to CBI. Recording statements of witnesses etc do take an investigation in a particular direction and therefore, nothing of that nature should happen,” said the S-G, clarifying he was making this statement as an officer of the court.

At this, senior advocate Puneet Bali, appearing for Singh, also complained that once Mumbai Police have completed an investigation and filed its charge sheet, the mere fact of not naming Singh in that final report would not matter much.

Defending the Maharashtra government’s actions, senior advocate Darius Khambata responded that the charge sheet had to be filed to make sure the jailed accused do not get the benefit of default bail on account of delay in its filing. He added that not all cases against Singh can be said to have overlapping facts with the criminal investigation pending against Deshmukh which is being investigated by CBI.

To this, the bench retorted: “In view of the fact that one matter has gone to CBI, we have to only see whether this case should also go to CBI. We will take a call on this one way or the other. In the meantime, you stay your hand...completely stay your hand.”

Khambata sought clarification whether the court was asking the state police not to file any more charge sheets or stop investigating the cases too.

“If the investigation has to be handed over to CBI, we don’t want things precipitated and complicated. You stay your hand completely,” replied the bench, prompting Khambata to request the court to record his statement in this regard on behalf of the state government instead of issuing a direction.

At this, the court recorded in its order: “We do believe that if we were to be inclined to hand over the investigation to CBI, completion of the investigation by another agency may impact the outcome of the case. Senior counsel Khambta gives an assurance that the state will stay its hands in all respects.”

Last month, CBI filed its affidavit in the matter, alleging that Maharashtra police was trying to “meddle in the court-entrusted investigation” by way of registering cases against Singh on facts overlapping with the criminal investigation pending against Deshmukh.

Supporting Singh’s plea for transfer of the probe in connected criminal cases to the central agency, CBI alleged that there was clearly an attempt by the state government to “jeopardise” the ongoing probe against Deshmukh by overreaching the orders of the Supreme Court and the Bombay high court through lodging cases that involved common facts and evidence.

“The present set of issues highlighted by the petitioner (Singh) deserve to be entrusted to CBI for a complete, thorough and impartial investigation...if the investigation is not entrusted to CBI, the mandate of this honourable court may remain unfulfilled...there is a need to ensure the integrity of the investigation conducted by CBI,” stated the agency’s affidavit, imploring the bench to let it examine the criminal cases against Singh as part of its investigation against Deshmukh.

Countering assertions by CBI and Singh, Maharashtra, in its affidavit, maintained that there were no overlapping facts between cases being probed by the agency and the state police, and that such statements by CBI were based on “conjecture”.

The state added that it even urged the Bombay high court to transfer the probe against Deshmukh from CBI to a court-monitored special investigation team. While the HC dismissed the state’s writ petition on December 15, 2021, the Maharashtra government added, it has now challenged the dismissal order in the top court. This petition, however, is yet to come up for hearing.

Singh was transferred for his handling of the Antilla bomb scare case in 2021, where an officer of Mumbai office was found to be the main accused by the National Investigation Agency. He subsequently wrote a letter to Maharashtra’s chief minister making his allegations against Deshmukh.

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, at its insistence, and being granted protection against arrest by Mumbai Police.