Mumbai: A magistrate court on Tuesday cancelled a non-bailable warrant it had issued against former city police commissioner Param Bir Singh in an extortion case lodged by a developer at Marine Drive police station.
After his appearance in the city after six months of being untraceable, he had appeared before the state CID’s office in Navi Mumbai, which is probing the case. The warrant had been issued by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate RM Nerlikar earlier this month after the investigating agency had approached it for the same. Seeking the warrant, prosecutor Shekhar Jagtap appearing for the state, had told the court that the agency had made attempts to reach Singh at his official residence as well as his native in Chandigarh, but he was not found.
It was the third warrant against the police officer, after the first warrant issued by a Thane court and then another at the end of October was issued in another extortion case lodged at Goregaon police station. The Thane court recently cancelled the warrant against him after he joined the Thane police in the probe. In the Goregaon case, the court had declared Singh an absconder and a proclamation was issued against him, again after a plea by the state. On Monday, Singh made a plea for the cancellation of the proclamation.
In the present case, developer Shyamsunder Agarwal had alleged that at the behest of his former business partner Sanjay Punamiya, police officers including high ranking ones had threatened to arrest him in a case against him in Juhu police station and extorted him in the process.
After making his appearance in the city, the police officer has taken charge as Director General of Maharashtra Home Guards. He has also appeared before a state-appointed judicial commission appointed to inquire into his allegations against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh. The commission on Monday cancelled the warrant it had issued against him.
