Maharashtra govt suspends Param Bir, initiates disciplinary proceedings

Maharashtra Government on Thursday suspended former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and initiated disciplinary proceedings against him over certain irregularities and lapses, an official said.

The suspension order was approved the day Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was discharged from a private hospital here after undergoing a spine surgery on November 12.

The lapses include unauthorized absence from duty, an official said.

Singh did not show up in the past six months after being appointed Maharashtra Home Guard chief, sources said. The leave granted to him on health grounds was till August 29, but even after that he failed to join duty, they added.

Singh had in March levelled allegations of corruption and misuse of official position against then state home minister Anil Deshmukh after he was shunted from the post of the Mumbai police commissioner in the aftermath of Antilia bomb scare incident.

He had accused Deshmukh of asking police officers to collect Rs 100 crore a month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai, a charge which the NCP leader denied.

The inquiry commission looking into these allegations had directed Singh to appear to record his statement, but the IPS officer, who was virtually incommunicado since May, turned up before it only last month.