Won't arrest Param Bir Singh in atrocities act case till Oct 21: Maha govt

The Maharashtra government on Friday told the Bombay High Court that it will not take any "coercive action" against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh till October 21 in a case registered against him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

In a separate case, the state government gave a similar assurance to the court about not taking action against Rashmi Shukla, another IPS officer. The government was extending its assurance given on May 24, 2021 about not taking any coercive action (such as arrest) against Param Bir Singh, said its lawyer Y P Yagnik. He made the statement after a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar adjourned till October 20 the hearing on a petition filed by Singh seeking the quashing of an FIR lodged against him by Thane police. A First Information Report was registered against Singh under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in April in Thane on a complaint made by inspector B R Ghadge, attached to Akola city police.

Ghadge, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, claimed he had refused to follow Singh's 'illegal orders' to favour certain accused persons, and the IPS officer then conspired with other officers and falsely implicated him in extortion cases. Incidentally, a lookout notice has been issued against Singh following inputs that he might have left the country, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil told reporters on Thursday.

Singh was shunted out from the post of Mumbai police commissioner following the case of an SUV with explosives found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house here. Singh later accused then state home minister Anil Deshmukh of corruption. The bench, meanwhile, also adjourned till October 20 the hearing on a petition filed by IPS officer Rashmi Shukla seeking the quashing of an FIR in a case of alleged illegal phone tapping and leak of her 2020 report about alleged corruption in police transfers and postings in Maharashtra. Shukla was heading the state intelligence department when she prepared the report. It is alleged that phones of politicians and officials were tapped illegally and the report was deliberately leaked to opposition leaders. The HC adjourned the hearing due to lack of time and the state government assured that it will not take any coercive action against Shukla till October 21.