Maharashtra govt gives ACB nod for open probe against ex-CP

Ahmed Ali / TNN / Updated: Jul 15, 2021, 08:21 IST

MUMBAI: The state government has given the state Anti-Corruption Bureau the go-ahead to initiate an open inquiry against former city police commissioner Param Bir Singh on charges of corruption levelled by police inspector Anup Dange. 
Dange, who was suspended by Singh, had filed a complaint to the home department seeking an inquiry into Singh’s alleged links to criminal elements and had alleged that a person claiming to be Singh’s relative demanded Rs 2 crore to reinstate him. 
The ACB, which was conducting two discreet inquiries against Singh on complaints by inspector Dange and another by inspector Bhimrao Gadge, had completed one inquiry on Dange’s allegations and had sought permission from the home department to proceed with an open inquiry. “As Param Bir Singh is a class one rank officer of the ACB, officials had to seek permission from government, which has been granted,” said an official. 
A discreet enquiry is a preliminary probe, in which ACB attempts to corroborate the complaint received against the public servant. Reports of these enquiries are then forwarded to the concerned department where the public servant works, seeking a sanction to further proceed from inquiries into investigations. 
Sources in the ACB said that during the preliminary inquiries of corruption charges levelled by Dange, prima facie it transpired there was some substance in the allegations. Now the ACB wants to conduct an open inquiry wherein even Singh will be provided an opportunity to defend himself. And if the open inquiries disclose the corruption charges, the ACB will register a disproportionate assets case. 
Dange was attached to DB Marg police station and on November 2019, he went to check pubs operating in Akruti building at Breach Candy, when a pub owner tried to pressurise him to operate beyond the stipulated deadline, claiming he had close connections with Singh, who was then DG, ACB. 
Later, a scuffle broke out outside the pub and the grandson of film producer Bharat Shah was arrested for allegedly assaulting a cop. The pub-bar owner was also booked in the case. Dange has alleged Singh suspended him and ordered a departmental inquiry against him in 2020 to shield a pub owner in a criminal case. 
Dange was suspended on July 18, 2020. He alleged a person claiming to be a cousin of Singh got in touch with him. He later agreed to bring down the amount to Rs 1 crore on behalf of Singh. 
Another police inspector, Bhimrao Ghadge of Kalyan police, in March lodged an FIR against Singh and 32 other officers alleging that while he was probing a cheating case pertaining to KDMC officials, Singh misused his official position and submitted a closure report despite there being strong documentary evidence. Ghadge also alleged Singh, as Thane city police chief, has amassed assets by settling several financial and land disputes and extracted money from various builders and transport lobbies.