Param Bir moves Bombay HC over FIR in Thane, seeks CBI probe

Senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh has filed another writ petition before the Bombay High Court seeking that the FIR registered against him and 32 others by Thane police be handed over to the CBI for investigation.

A total of 27 sections including those under the Prevention of Atrocities Act were added in the FIR registered last month.

The FIR was based on a complaint by Inspector Bhimrao Ghadge at Akola, from where it was transferred to the Thane Police. Ghadge had alleged that Singh had pressured him to drop the names of some persons from an FIR and later registered FIRs against Ghadge when he did not accept the orders. The Thane police have begun investigations in the matter.

The petition filed by Singh on Monday is likely to come up for hearing before the Bombay High Court on May 6. In this petition, Singh has sought that the FIR being investigated by the Thane police be handed over for probe to the CBI.

Prior to this, Singh had approached the Bombay High Court in connection with the two enquiries registered against him by the Maharashtra government. Singh had alleged that DGP Sanjay Pandey, who was tasked to conduct these enquiries, had been putting pressure on him to withdraw a letter he had written earlier making allegations of corruption against former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. The CBI had later registered an FIR against Deshmukh based on the letter.

IAS officer to head probe against Param Bir

Senior IAS officer Debashish Chakraborty has been asked to head the probe against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. Chakraborty will head the probe committee, which is likely to comprise two more persons.

Chakraborty was appointed after acting DGP Sanjay Pandey had last week written to the state government saying he was recusing himself from the task of conducting two inquiries against Singh. Pandey sent the communication after Singh alleged that the acting DGP offered to mediate in his stand-off with the state government.

The Maharashtra government has set up a probe against Singh under the All India Services (Conduct) Rules in connection with the Ambani security scare case. It had set up another to initiate an inquiry against Singh over corruption allegations made by Inspector Anup Dange.