Interim relief for Param Bir and Rashmi Shukla
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Monday adjourned the hearing of the petitions filed by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and ex-commissioner of state intelligence Rashmi Shukla till June 22 after the state gave an assurance that it would not take any coercive steps against the two till then, as the regular bench that was hearing the petitions was not available.
Singh through his petition has sought quashing of the first information report (FIR) against him by police inspector BR Ghadge in an SC, ST Atrocities Act case. Ghadge has alleged that Singh in 2015 order had directed him to drop the names of some developers from an FIR registered at Thane.
After he refused to do so, FIRS were registered against him at Singh’s behest, Ghadge alleged. While the FIR on Ghadge’s complaint was initially lodged at Akola, it was transferred to Thane police as the alleged excesses by Singh had occurred there. The case is now being investigated by the state crime investigation department (CID).
Shukla’s petition sought quashing of the alleged illegal phone-tapping case against her. Shukla is accused of leaking sensitive documents related to police postings in Maharashtra.
The alleged tapping of phones had taken place when Shukla headed the Maharashtra intelligence department.
After senior counsel Darius Khambatta for the state informed the bench that the earlier statement of the government of not taking coercive steps till the next date, the bench posted hearing to June 22.
The intervention application by Khar-based developer Kartik Bhatt in the petition by Singh, alleging that the former top cop through two police officers had tried to extort ₹200 crore from him for a slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) project undertaken by him in Chembur, will also be heard on June 22. Bhatt’s application has alleged that he had already paid Singh extortion money in 2018 for the same project.