Param Bir Singh, ex Mumbai top cop, gets temporary Supreme Court relief

Mumbai's former top cop Param Bir Singh – facing allegations of misconduct and corruption - on Tuesday got a relief from the Supreme Court till March 9. The state government in Maharashtra has agreed for a stay on all cases against Singh for the next two weeks. 

The court is expected to decide on March 9 if all cases against him will be transferred to CBI. 

The 58-year-old top cop is facing extortion allegations. He was removed from his post last year in March in the aftermath of the security scare near Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai home – Antilia. 

Later, he had written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray claiming that former home minister Anil Deshmukh  had asked the officials to collect ₹100 crores from Mumbai businessmen.  

The state government, however, had told the court that Singh could not be considered a “whistleblower”.

On Tuesday, the court told the state government to put its “hands on hold”. “We have now put down the matter for final hearing, investigation being completed can pose problems. Mr Darius Khambata, senior advocate, has assured to put their hands on hold. We take the assurance on record,” the court said, news agency PTI reported. 

“We have had occasion to say earlier that it is messy state of affairs. This is an unfortunate situation. It has the propensity of unnecessarily shaking confidence of people in police system. Process of law must be carried in a manner,” the court added.  

Last year, during one of the hearings, the top court had made some sharp remarks, underling that “a former head of police department does not have faith in his force”. 

“This is a very disturbing scenario but unfortunately this is the ground reality. A former head of the police department (Singh) does not have faith in the police... What does one do when authorities start expressing doubts against each other and say they don’t trust each other," the court had said. 

On Tuesday, Attorney General Tushar Mehta suggested the case against Singh should be shifted to CBI. 

(With inputs from PTI)