The Supreme Court of India today ordered Maharashtra Police to refrain from taking any coercive action against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh till March 9 in the case related to former state home minister Anil Deshmukh. The Supreme Court also termed the row between the former top cop and Anil Deshmukh a messy state of affairs.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, “It’s a messy state of affairs. Nobody comes out washed with milk in this. It has the propensity to shake the confidence of the people in the state administration and police system, the most unfortunate system. But the process of law must go on.”
The apex court said that it will also take a decision soon on whether the investigation into all cases against Singh should be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Maharashtra government had maintained that all the cases cannot be transferred to the CBI.
A controversy erupted after an explosive-laden vehicle was found parked outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence. The National Investigation Agency then arrested now suspended ASI Sachin Vaze in connection with the case. Later, Vaze and Singh alleged that former home minister Deshmukh had asked several police officers to collect Rs 100 crore every month from restaurants, pubs, bars, and hookah parlours of the city.
Singh had written to CM Uddhav Thackeray in this regard. He was later replaced as Mumbai Police Commissioner and subsequently suspended amid allegations of corruption.
Both Singh and Deshmukh had denied the allegations. Deshmukh later resigned as the home minister after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe against him.