Will not arrest Param Bir Singh till May 20 in Akola FIR: HC told
The Bombay High Court bench of Justices Prasanna Varale and Nitin Borkar was on Thursday informed that the Maharashtra government would not arrest former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh till May 20, in connection with an FIR lodged against him in Akola, which was later transferred to the Thane Police.
The state through senior counsel Darius Khambatta told the bench that the Thane police won't arrest Singh and 32 others till May 20 and sought time to respond to Singh's plea seeking to quash the FIR. Khambatta sought an adjournment on the ground that he has received the case papers through Singh's counsel Pradnya Talekar at the eleventh hour.
Khambatta made the submission in response to the contention of senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, who sought protection from arrest for his client.
Singh has been named in the FIR filed by police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge accusing him of misusing his office as the commissioner of police, Thane during his tenure in 2015. Ghadge in his FIR has claimed that Singh pressurised him to withdraw cases against certain "influential persons" and when he refused to submit to the pressure, Ghadge alleged that Singh lodged four false cases against him.
Ghadge claimed that he was jailed for 14 days. He claimed to have approached even the state human rights commission and the DGP and also the state's home minister but all his efforts were in vain.
The FIR against Singh is lodged under the provisions of IPC, SC ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Civil Rights Protection Act etc.
In his plea, Singh has claimed that the case filed against him is a part of a conspiracy being hatched against him to withdraw the complaint letter he wrote to the chief minister highlighting the alleged extortion racket being run by home minister Anil Deshmukh.
He had claimed Deshmukh had instructed suspended cop Sachin Waze to extort Rs 100 from bars and restaurants in the city. Singh has claimed that he is being pressurised to withdraw the complaint against Deshmukh. He had claimed that the present DGP Sanjay Pandey also advised him to withdraw the complaint letter.