IPS officer Param Bir Singh has been facing a slew of cases following his removal as the Mumbai Police commissioner.
Recently, one more case of extortion was registered against him for allegedly demanding money from the relative of a builder and kidnapping him for ransom.
A DCP-rank official and three others have also been named in the First Information Report (FIR) that was registered in Thane on Friday.
The complainant in the case, Sharad Agrawal, approached the Kopri police station in Thane in the early hours of Friday and filed the complaint against Param Bir Singh, who had served as the Thane police chief earlier. The other accused were identified as Parag Manere, a DCP-rank officer of Mumbai police, Sanjay Punamia, Sunil Jain and Manoj Ghotkar, the official added.
As per the complaint lodged by Agrawal, the accused persons allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore extortion from him and forcibly acquired his land.
On Wednesday, Mumbai police had registered an FIR of extortion, cheating and forgery against Param Bir Singh, five other police officials and two others for allegedly demanding Rs 15 crore from builder Shyamsundar Agrawal for withdrawing cases against him.
Sharad Agrawal is the nephew of Shyamsundar Agrawal. Based on his complaint, an FIR has been registered under IPC sections 384 and 385 (extortion), 388 (extortion by threat), 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion), 420 (cheating), 364 A (kidnapping for ransom), 34 (common intention), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), he said adding probe in the case is on.
Two accused in this fresh case - Punamia and Jain - have already been arrested by Mumbai police in the earlier offence registered at Marine Drive in South Mumbai, he said.
Earlier this month, the Maharashtra government gave approval to the state's Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for opening an inquiry into allegations against Param Bir Singh for demanding ₹ 2 crore to reinstate police officer Anup Dange, who was suspended by the former during his tenure.
Dange had alleged that he was approached by a person, claiming to be a relative of Param Bir Singh, who would get him reinstated into the Mumbai Police after his suspension if he paid ₹ 2 crore. Dange in his complaint to Maharashtra Home Department had also alleged that Param Bir Singh had links with criminals.
The agency had sought approval of the state government for open inquiry after they found some substance in the complaint of the officer in their preliminary enquiry.
In May, this year, a cricket bookie named Sonu Jalan in a statement before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) alleged that Param Bir Singh had asked him to pay Rs 10 crore to former police inspector Pradeep Sharma if he wanted to avoid arrest in a "big case."
Jalan had sent a letter to Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey, following which the CID took up the probe.
In his statement, Jalan told CID officials that after his arrest in a betting case in May 2018 by the Anti Extortion Cell of Thane police, he was taken to Param Bir Singh who was then Thane police commissioner.
Singh asked for information about cricket bookies in India and also threatened to arrest him in a "big case" along with his family members, he claimed. If he wanted to save himself, Jalan should pay Rs 10 crore to Pradeep Sharma, Singh allegedly told Jalan, as per the statement.
On April 24, 2021, an FIR was registered by police inspector Bhimraj Ghadge against Param Bir Singh under several sections of the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Civil Rights Protection Act, the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Police Act at Akola.
Ghadge made a series of allegations of corruption against Singh and other officers when the top cop was posted in Thane as police commissioner. He said that Singh pressured him to drop the names of some persons from a case and when he refused, the IPS officer framed him in false cases.
According to the Indian Express, the former commissioner may also soon face action with regard to the recovery of penalty rent for an official apartment in Malabar Hill that he continued to hold even after moving to Thane, where he was posted as the police chief.
Singh was charged Rs 54,10,545 from March 17, 2015 and July 29, 2018 for the rent and the penalty rent. Although he has paid Rs 29,43,825, the remaining amount- Rs 24,66,720 is still pending.
Param Bir Singh was shunted out as Mumbai police commissioner in March this year after the arrest of dismissed police officer Sachin Waze in the case of an explosives-laden vehicle found near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai. Singh later accused then state home minister Anil Deshmukh of corruption.
(With inputs from agencies)
