In a significant development, the Maharashtra government has informed the Bombay High Court that it would not arrest senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh till June 9 if he cooperates with the police vis-à-vis investigation of a case registered under the Atrocities Act.
A former Mumbai Police Commissioner, Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, is currently the Commandant General of Home Guards.
On April 28, based on a complaint by Police Inspector Bhimrao Ghadge, the Akola police registered a case under sections of the Indian Penal Code concerning criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, and sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989.
Appearing on behalf of the Maharashtra government, Senior Counsel Darius Khambata told a vacation bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice N R Borkar that Singh cannot ride two horses at the same time and seek reliefs from both the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court in the same case.
Singh’s Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani made a statement that if interim protection is granted, his client will not press for relief in the Supreme Court.
The court then posted the petition for further hearing on June 9.
It may be recalled, last week Singh had filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging that he is being hounded and continuously harassed with multiple cases instituted against him by the Maharashtra government as vendetta after he complained to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray against the then Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Singh had accused Deshmukh of fixing a Rs 100 crore collection target for the then Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze.
Ghadge's advocate Satish Talekar opposed the interim protection from arrest granted to Singh. The court, however, noted that the case dates back to 2016. "The FIR has been filed after five years. You (complainant) waited for so long…nothing will happen if you wait for two more weeks. He (Singh) has not been arrested for all these years. What purpose will it serve if he is arrested now," the court said.
According to the FIR, Ghadge was asked by Singh, who was then Thane Police Commissioner, not to charge sheet certain persons, however, when he refused to comply he was suspended.
Ghadge, who is now posted in the Akola police control room, has also alleged that after he refused to obey Singh's instructions, five FIRs were registered against him and he was suspended.