WILL NOT ARREST MUMBAI EX-TOP COP TILL JUNE 9: MAHA TELLS HC

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has assured that it will not arrest former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh in a case filed against him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act till June 9, if he cooperates with the probe and doesn’t seek relief related to this case from the Supreme Court, said senior counsel Darius Khambata, who is representing the state government.

The assurance came during the hearing of a petition filed by Singh in Bombay high court, seeking to quash the FIR registered against him on a complaint of police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge. The vacation bench of justices S S Shinde and N R Borkar was hearing the matter.

Singh last week filed a petition in the apex court, alleging that he is being hounded and harassed with multiple cases instituted against him by the Maharashtra government as vendetta, after he complained to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray against former home minister Anil Deshmukh.

He urged the SC to shift all the enquiries set up against him to another state and also sought for the FIRS registered against him to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The bench accepted the state government’s statement that it would not arrest Singh till June 9, and directed him to not seek reliefs pertaining to the particular case before the SC. Singh’s counsel Mahesh Jethmalani agreed to the directive.

Ghadge’s advocate Satish Talekar opposed the interim protection from arrest granted to Singh.

The court, however, noted that the case dates back to 2016. The bench also noted that Singh is still in service and is an officer of the government’s police force.