In High Court affidavit, Mumbai cop opposes Param Bir’s plea seeking quashing of FIR

By LE Desk

Mumbai, May 21: Police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge has filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court opposing the petition by senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh seeking quashing of an FIR registered against him and 32 others. The Maharashtra government too has filed its response to Singh’s petition, supporting Ghadge’s charges in the FIR lodged on April 29.

Singh’s petition, filed on May 3, is likely to come up for hearing on Friday, The Indian Express reported.

In his FIR, Ghadge had alleged that Singh took money for transfers of officers and also in lieu of not taking action against a person accused in a cheating case in 2015. Ghadge alleged that after he refused to comply with the “illegal orders”, Singh had conspired with other officers to register five FIRs against him, of which four were registered within a matter of 10 days in 2015.

Ghadge’s FIR against Singh was registered initially by the Akola police from where it was transferred to Thane police and eventually is being probed by the CID.

In his writ petition, Singh had alleged that the FIR was a result of the state government’s attempt to harass him. His lawyer alleged that Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey had earlier warned Singh that a frivolous complaint would be filed against him as “the state wanted to go after him.”

Singh had alleged that Ghadge’s complaint was one of the many being registered to pressurise him into retracting a letter he wrote against Anil Deshmukh in March, accusing him of corruption, following which the HC ordered a preliminary enquiry by CBI into the charges levelled against the former state Home Minister. The letter by Singh came a few days after he was shunted out from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner. Two cases have been registered against Deshmukh by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) based on Singh’s letter.

In his affidavit, Ghadge termed Singh’s claim as “imaginary, concocted and fictional”. He further said he had been trying to get a complaint registered against Singh since 2015 when he was framed in five cases and subsequently imprisoned for more than a year. He denied his complaint had anything to do with the state government’s action, The Indian Express said.

Ghadge, in his affidavit filed through advocate SB Talekar, said he had submitted several complaints against Singh, including one on January 18, 2016 at Khadakpada police station.

In its affidavit, filed through Thane DCP (zone III) Vivek Pansare, the state government said Ghadge had been trying to register a complaint against Singh since 2015, adding the recent complaint is in no way linked to the issue of Singh’s letter against Deshmukh. Pansare added that prima facie the allegations made by Ghadge disclosed the commission of offences and hence an FIR was registered in the matter.

Ghadge, in his affidavit, said that over the past few years, he has approached several forums including the Director General of Police (DGP), Additional Chief Secretary (home), Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Human Rights Commission and State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) alleging commission of offences against him by Singh. He added he had approached the High Court as well but to no avail.

Several enquiries have been initiated and an FIR registered against Singh in the past few weeks following complaints from a host of people, accusing him of a number of offences, including running an extortion racket.

In a previous hearing on May 14, the state government had given an assurance to the Bombay HC that Singh would not be arrested until the next hearing, which is likely on Friday.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/in-high-court-affidavit-ghadge-opposes-param-birs-plea-seeking-quashing-of-fir-7323731/