Mumbai: A sessions court that recently granted bail to a co-accused Vinay Singh of former city police commissioner Param Bir Singh in an extortion case, has said in its detailed order, that majority of allegations are against Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze.
The FIR was lodged by a hotelier-civic contractor at Goregaon police station and the probe was later taken over by the Crime Branch. The hotelier had complained that Vaze in connivance with the then police commissioner and others compelled him to shell out money to be able to run his businesses smoothly.
The court said that it is clear that a majority of the allegations are against accused Sachin Vaze and Param Bir Singh. Detailing the role attributed to Vinay Singh, the court stated that allegedly after making collection of money, a co-accused Sumit Singh had made Vinay and another accused Riyaz Bhati phone calls and informed them that the money had been collected and that it would be delivered to Vaze. It also went on to mention that the statement of witness would only reveal that when Sumit Singh made the collection, Vinay was with him.
Additional Sessions Judge Deepak L. Bhagwat noted that there were no allegations against the applicant that he had threatened the complainant. The court said that Sumit Singh who played the role of collecting money had already been granted bail and that the rule of parity is certainly applicable to the applicant.
“Considering the role attributed to the present applicant…no purpose would be served by his further detention,” the court said, also considering that his police custody is over.
