Param Bir should prove his allegations, I'm filing defamation: Deshmukh

After Param Bir Singh alleged that he was indulged in "malpractices" and asked suspended API Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday said he is filing a defamation suit against former Mumbai Police Commissioner.

"Param Bir Singh should prove his allegations. I am filing a defamation suit against him," Deshmukh said.

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had indulged in "malpractices" and asked suspended API Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month.

The allegations were made a day after Deshmukh had said that Param Bir Singh was moved out as Mumbai Police Commissioner so that cases pertaining to Waze were probed without obstruction.

In the letter, Param Bir Singh, who has now been posted as Commandant General of Home Guards, said that he has been "made a scapegoat to divert attention from the actual wrongdoers".

He alleged that Sachin Vaze, who was heading the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police, was called by Deshmukh to his official residence several times in the last few months and "repeatedly instructed to assist in the collection of funds".

"In and around mid-February and thereafter, the Home Minister had called Vaze to his official residence. At that time, one or two staff members of the Home Minister including his personal secretary Palande, were also present. The Home Minister expressed to Vaze that he had a target to accumulate Rs 100 crores a month. For achieving the target, the Home Minister told Vaze that there are about 1,750 bars, restaurants, and other establishments in Mumbai and if a sum of Rs. 2-3 lakhs each was collected from each of them, a monthly collection of Rs. 40-50 crores were achievable," the letter said.

According to the Chief Minister's Office, Maharashtra, letter from Param Bir Singh was received at 4:37 pm today (Saturday) via a different email address, not his official one, and was without his signature. The new email address needs to be checked. The Home Ministry is trying to contact him for the same, CMO said.

Waze, Assistant Police Inspector in the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), who was transferred to the Citizen Facilitation Centre at Mumbai Police Headquarters after his name came up in Mansukh Hiren death case, has been sent to NIA custody till March 25, in connection with his alleged role and involvement in placing an explosives-laden vehicle.