In a major setback to Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, the Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition challenging two preliminary inquiries launched against him by the Maharashtra Government for alleged violation of service rules and another for alleged corruption.
While dismissing Singh’s petition on the ground that it was “not maintainable”, a HC division bench comprising Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamdar said that “it is a service matter” and asked him to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which is an appropriate forum.
“(When) the petitioner approaches the appropriate forum, then the same shall be heard and decided without any prejudice to the HC’s order,” the HC bench said.
The HC had on July 28 reserved its order on Singh’s petition seeking quashing of his petition challenging two preliminary inquiries launched against by the Maharashtra Government on April 1 and April 20,2021 respectively for alleged dereliction of duty and misconduct and for alleged corruption.
While Maharashtra’s former Home Minister had on April 1 2021 had passed an order launching a preliminary against Singh for alleged violation of some All India Services (Conduct) Rules, his successor and current State Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil had ordered another preliminary against the former police commissioner over the allegations of corruption levelled against the latter by Inspector Anup Dange.
Describing himself as a ‘whistle-blower’ who had sought to highlight corruption in the highest public office, Singh had stated in his petition that the inquiries came to be launched against him a month after he had accused the then Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of allegedly extorting Rs.100 crore per month from Mumbai hoteliers through a dismissed Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze.
Opposing Singh’s plea, Senior Advocate Darius Khambata – representing the Maharashtra government – told the high court that the (CAT was the “appropriate forum” for petitioner’s grievances as the inquiries were of administrative nature pertaining to his conduct as the police commissioner.
However, senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing Singh, argued that these were criminal Inquiries as there was a reference to the section 32 of CrPC and hence he could expect a remedy only from the high court.
The inquiries pertain to alleged violation of services rules in the sensational Antilia case and allegations of corruption levelled by a policeman Anup Dange who accused Singh of shielding people with mafia links and that one alleging the top cop’s relative of demanding a Rs 2 crore bribe to reinstate him in the police force.
Khambata told the court that Singh’s contentions on the maintainability ground as they contradicted his own plea in which he accepted that these are administrative inquiries and said writing letters would not ‘immunise’ him from the same.
Khambata also said that Singh’s primary grievance related to the Director-General of Police Sanjay Pandey conducting the inquiries and said that the IPS officer (Pandey) had recused himself from the enquiries which have been assigned to different officers now.
Among other things, Jethmalani contended that Pandey was an ‘emissary’ of the government trying to convince Singh to withdraw his complaint and offering to mediate on the issue.
It may be recalled that three days after he was shunted and posted in a relatively insignificant post as the Commandant General of Home Guards, Singh had in an eight-page sensational letter written to the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray On March 20 alleged that State Home Minister Deshmukh had asked now arrested and suspended police officer Sachin Vaze last month to "collect" a staggering Rs 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources.
Vaze -- who was on March 13 in connection with the gelatine sticks laden Scorpion recovery case and later booked for the murder of businessman and vehicle’s owner Mansukh Hiran in March – is being prosecuted in the sensational twin cases.
Vaze had allegedly parked the Scorpio car laden with 20 gelatine sticks near Mukesh Ambani's residence in Mumbai. He was allegedly involved in the conspiracy to murder Hiran.
Hiran, a Thane-based businessman -- whose “stolen” SUV with 20 gelatin sticks was recovered by the police near Industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s skyscraper mansion “Antilia” in south Mumbai on February 25, 2021 -- had hit the headlines after his body was found in mysterious circumstances on March 5, 2021.