Param Bir Singh appears before panel probing former Maharashtra minister

Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Monday appeared before the commission probing corruption allegations against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

Following Singh's appearance, the Justice K U Chandiwal Commission cancelled the bailable warrant issued against him and asked him to deposit Rs 15,000 in the chief minister's relief fund.

The one-member commission was formed in March this year to probe the allegations levelled by Singh against the then home minister and NCP leader Deshmukh.

The panel had earlier fined Singh on multiple occasions for failing to appear before it and also issued a bailable warrant against him.

Singh, who was transferred from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March in the aftermath of the Antilia bomb scare episode, had alleged that Deshmukh asked police officers to collect Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in the city.

Declared absconding by a court here in an extortion case, Singh surfaced in public last Thursday after six months, and appeared before the Mumbai crime branch to record his statement.

The Supreme Court has granted him temporary protection from arrest.

Singh appeared before Thane police on Friday in connection with an extortion case filed against him and some other police officials on the complaint of a local builder.

The IPS officer is facing at least five extortion cases in Maharashtra.