On Saturday, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who was fired this week for “unforgivable” lapses in the Mukesh Ambani security scare investigation, delivered a stunning counterpunch, accusing Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of corruption and interfering with police work. The explosive allegations, which Mr Deshmukh categorically denied, sparked urgent calls for his resignation from the opposition.
Mr Bir Singh claimed that the minister had assigned several of his officers, including Sachin Waze, who has been imprisoned in the Mukesh Ambani case, in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray titled “untruthful statements by the Hon’ble Home Minister, Maharashtra” – for running an extortion racket.
He claimed that as recently as February this year, the Home Minister had directed many of his officers to receive funds from restaurants, pubs, bars, and hookah parlours, with a monthly target of 100 crore.
The former police officer also claimed that the House Minister had given police officers instructions on how to manage cases and press charges on several times, frequently inviting them to his home to “bypass” him and other senior staff.
Accusations And statements By Param Bir Singh:
Mr Bir Singh wrote that he “pointed out several misdeeds and malpractices being indulged in by the Hon’ble Home Minister” at one of Mr Thackeray’s briefings following the Mukesh Ambani occurrence in mid-March.
“I have similarly briefed the Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister, Maharashtra, the President of the Nationalist Congress Party, Shri Sharad Pawar and other senior Ministers also about the misdeeds and malpractices. On my briefings, I noticed that some of the Ministers were already aware about some aspects mentioned by me,” he said.
Mr Param Bir Singh claimed that the Home Minister was “unhappy” with him because he refused to file an abetment to suicide case against officers in Dadra and Nagar Haveli in the demise of parliamentarian Mohanbhai Sanjibhai Delkar, which would have given him “political mileage.”
“I take full responsibility of my police force. However, the instances of interference make it clear that the responsibility of wrongdoings may lie somewhere else – at the door of the wrongdoers,” Mr Param Bir Singh said.
“On a collective appraisal of events that have transpired and what is being pointed out by me makes it clear that I have been made a scapegoat to divert attention from the actual wrongdoers,” he said, adding his transfer was “for extraneous and vindictive reasons”.
On Twitter, the Home Minister fully denied the whole set of accusations and wrote, “The former Commissioner of Police, Param Bir Singh has made false allegations in order to save himself as the involvement of Sachin Waze in Mukesh Ambani & Mansukh Hiren’s case is becoming clearer from the investigation carried out so far & threads are leading to Mr. Bir Singh as well.”
