Maharashtra DGP sends proposal to suspend Param Bir Singh

Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey recently sent a proposal to suspend IPS officer Param Bir Singh and other police officials named in alleged extortion cases, but the state Home Department sought more details, sources said on Saturday.

At least four FIRs of 'extortion' have been registered against Singh, a former Mumbai police commissioner, in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane.

The Home Department returned the DGP's proposal asking for more specific information about the role of the each accused official in these cases, government sources said.

Besides Singh, officials of ranks of deputy commissioner of police (DCP) and assistant commissioner of police (ACP) have been named as accused in the FIRs.

Singh was transferred from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March 2021 after city police officer Sachin Waze was arrested by the NIA in the case of explosives-laden SUV found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's south Mumbai house 'Antilia'. After his transfer to Home Guard, the IPS officer accused then state home minister Anil Deshmukh of asking police officers to collect bribes from hotel and bar owners, an allegation the latter denied. But Deshmukh stepped down from his post subsequently as CBI registered a case against him.

Some of the FIRs against Singh, where he and other officials are accused of extorting money from complainants -- builders in some cases -- by threatening to arrest them in false cases , were registered after his allegations against NCP leader Deshmukh.