Param Bir Singh to appear before Chandiwal commission on Monday

IPS officer Param Bir Singh will appear before the one-member commission probing corruption allegations against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday, his lawyer said. The Justice K U Chandiwal commission was formed in March this year to probe the allegations levelled by Singh, a former Mumbai police chief, against Deshmukh, an NCP leader.

On Thursday, the commission had warned that if Singh did not remain present, he would face the execution of the bailable warrant issued against him.

On Friday, Singh's lawyer told the commission that the senior IPS officer won't be able to appear during the day as he was visiting Thane in connection with a case against him.

Singh was ready to appear on Saturday or any other day, he said. The commission said it doesn't sit on Saturday and asked Singh to appear on Monday (November 29).

The commission had fined Singh on many occasions earlier for failing to appear. A bailable warrant had also been issued against him. Singh, transferred from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March in the aftermath of the Antilia bomb scare episode, alleged that Deshmukh, then home minister, had asked police officers to collect Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai. Declared absconding by a Mumbai court in an extortion case, Singh surfaced in public on Thursday after six months, and appeared before the Mumbai crime branch to record his statement. Meanwhile, a man, claiming to be a social worker, on Friday approached the Justice Chandiwal commission with an intervention application, seeking inquiry against Singh for his "misdeeds" during his tenure as Thane police commissioner. Singh implicated many builders, businessmen and common citizens in false cases, the plea alleged.

The commission took the application on record.

Incidentally, 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.

The Supreme Court has granted him temporary protection from arrest.