Two days after two serving police inspectors linked to him were arrested, a Mumbai Magistrate’s court on Wednesday issued a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) against Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh in an extortion case.
Wednesday’s was the third NBW warrant issued against Singh, against whom five First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered in different police stations.
Singh has been absconding for the past seven months. A look-out circular (LoC) is already in force against him.
Hearing a complaint lodged against him and others by builder Shyamsunder Agrawal at the Marine Drive police station for alleged extortion, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R. M. Nerlikar issued an NBW against Singh.
Last month, the courts in Thane and Mumbai had issued two similar NBWs in extortion cases. The case in which the court issued a NBW to Singh, relates to a case in which two serving police inspectors -- Nandkumar Gopale and Asha Korke – were arrested by the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday night. The two arrested police officers were on Tuesday sent by a city court to the State CID’s custody for a week.
Apart from Singh, there are seven– including Gopale, Korke and three other police officers – accused in the case.
The Marine Drive Police had registered the extortion case against Singh and 7 others, including five police officials, on July 22 following a complaint by Agrawal.
Currently, the CID is investigating a case under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Agrawal, registered by Juhu Police Station, alleging links with the absconding underworld ganglord Chhota Shakeel.
On his part, Agrawal has alleged that based on this "false" case had been filed against him. He has alleged that Mumbai’s former police commissioner Singh and other police officers had extorted money from him at the behest of his former business partner Sanjay Punamiya.
Singh has been missing for nearly seven months now. It may be recalled that the Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on October 21 that it has not been able to trace Param Bir and assured the court that it would not take coercive action against the latter. While his whereabouts are not known, he approached the high court through his lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani to mention his plea seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against him.
The Maharashtra government-appointed Justice (retired) Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal Commission of enquiry –which is hearing into the allegations of corruption made by him against Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh --has issued several summons against him, fined him and even issued a bailable arrest warrant against him.