Mumbai ex-top cop Param Bir Singh moves Supreme Court, allies back Anil Deshmukh

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 22

Former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh on Monday moved the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, triggering a fresh crisis for the state’s ruling coalition which backed the minister even as the issue rocked Parliament.

• Edit: The stinking feeling

Param Bir, removed as the Mumbai Police Commissioner five days ago, moved the apex court seeking an “unbiased, uninfluenced, impartial and fair” CBI probe into the allegations of corruption levelled by him against Deshmukh in his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Param Bir demands CBI probe

• Former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh has sought a CBI probe into the allegations he levelled against Deshmukh
• He demanded CBI take in its custody the CCTV footage from Deshmukh’s house
• Deshmukh interfered in investigations, alleged Param Bir
• Also pressed for quashing of “arbitrary” transfer that came before completion of minimum two-year tenure
• He sought protection from further coercive steps in retaliation for laying bare Deshmukh’s “misdeeds”

The former top cop, who had accused Deshmukh of “interfering” in investigations, sought directions to the Maharashtra Government, the Centre and the CBI to immediately take in its custody the CCTV footage from Deshmukh’s residence. Terming the March 17 order transferring him from the post of Mumbai Police chief before completion of the minimum fixed tenure of two years as “arbitrary” and “illegal”, the 1988-batch IPS officer said it was more of a politically influenced move by certain political parties aggrieved by the revelation of the alleged corrupt practices of Deshmukh.

Also read: Param Bir Singh’s letter dented Maharashtra home department’s image: Shiv Sena

NCP sees ‘BJP link’ to letter gate

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged Param Bir Singh met “people in Delhi” before writing the controversial letter to the CM. “We will reveal the truth in some time,” he said.

BJP MPs demanded resignations of Uddhav Thackeray and Deshmukh in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, besides a CBI probe into Param Bir’s accusation that Deshmukh had called the now arrested cop Sanjay Waze to his residence in mid-February and ordered extortion worth Rs 100 crore a month.

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, however, ruled out Deshmukh’s resignation and said there was no Shiv Sena pressure on the NCP to act against the minister.

Pawar defended Deshmukh saying he was out of action for most of February due to Covid and, therefore, “the question of his resignation did not arise”. The NCP supremo said, “The extortion allegations were possibly made to divert the entire investigation into the main case about gelatin sticks in an SUV outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence.”

Pawar’s claim about Deshmukh’s illness was, however, countered on Twitter by BJP leader and former CM Devendra Fadnavis, who posted a video saying the state Home Minister was holding a press conference the day the NCP chief said he was home-quarantined.

The Maha Vikas Agadhi had decided to defend Deshmukh after a late night meeting on Sunday at Pawar’s residence in Delhi where the allies concluded that a resignation would be seen as a sign of guilt. The Sena also toned down today after Pawar spoke to Thackeray and both sides said a probe was in order but Deshmukh need not resign as the allegations by Singh were suspect.