Param Bir Singh summoned by ED in money laundering case

The ED is soon expected to question and record the statement of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh in a money laundering case linked to his allegation of a Rs 100 bribery-cum-extortion racket in the state police establishment that led to the resignation of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, officials said on Friday.

They said 59-year-old Singh has been issued summons to appear before the investigating officer of the case in Mumbai and the senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer has sought some time to depose apparently owing to an health issue.

The summons has been issued to Singh sometime ago as part of the investigation into the case involving him and Deshmukh, they said.

Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, is currently the director general of Maharashtra Police home guards unit.

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He was removed as the Mumbai Commissioner of Police (CP) after multiple investigations were launched into an instance of security scare that was reported from near the Mumbai house of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani in the capital city of Maharashtra.

The investigation in the alleged bribery case gathered pace after the ED late last month raided the premises of Deshmukh, 72, and his aides in Nagpur and Mumbai and later arrested two of his staffers.

The former home minister was also summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) thrice but he skipped the dates.

Deshmukh, some days ago, moved the Supreme Court seeking protection from any coercive action by the ED in this money laundering case.

The ED case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the CBI booked him in a corruption case related to allegations of at least Rs 100 crore bribery made by Singh.

In his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after he was removed from the police commissioner's post, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had asked suspended Mumbai Police assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to extort over Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

Deshmukh had to resign from his post in April following the allegations and he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The ED has questioned Waze in this case twice at the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai and it is expected that it may grill him again on Saturday after it obtained a court permission to record his statement for three days.

Waze is in jail after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a case related to parking of an explosives laden SUV near the residence of Ambani and the murder case of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

He had also told the ED that he attended a meeting at the official residence of the former home minister Deshmukh wherein he was given a list of bar and restaurant owners and asked to "collect Rs 3 lakh per month" from each of these businesses in Mumbai.