The Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that it will not arrest former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh in connection to the corruption allegations levelled against him until May 20.
Senior counsel Darius Khambata, appearing for the state government, told a division bench of Justices PB Varale and NR Borkar that the allegations against Singh which have been made by an inspector in Akola were of “serious nature”.
An FIR was registered against Singh by Thane police under the Atrocities Act after inspector Bhimrao Ghadge posted at Akola had accused the former top cop of corruption when he worked with the Thane police.
Khambata said that the police would not arrest Singh till May 20, by when the police would file an affidavit in response to Singh’s plea against the FIR.
“The FIR was registered on April 30 and an investigation into the case has commenced. The police want time to file an affidavit to the petition. Till that time, we (police) will not arrest the petitioner (Singh), Khambata said.
The bench accepted the statement and posted the matter for further hearing on May 20.
Last week, Singh had knocked at the doors of the HC and had sought the FIR against him to be quashed.
His counsel Mahesh Jethmalani said that the case was filed with malafide intentions and was an abuse of powers by the police.
Ghadge, who was posted in the Thane Police Commissionerate during 2015-2018, had alleged that the ex-CP had pressured him to drop the names of some persons from a case and when he refused to do so, Singh had embroiled him in false cases.
Surjitt Sahani
