Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in his statement to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that he had removed former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh from his post as he had found Singh to be the mastermind in the Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiren death matter, and as he was hiding the truth.
In his statement given to the ED on November 1, last year, Deshmukh had claimed, on March 20, 2021, Singh had levelled false allegations against him after his removal as Mumbai police chief on March 17. Singh was removed because the names of subordinates close to him, namely API Sachin Vaze and his four other colleagues from the police commissioner’s office, had surfaced in serious allegations related to the Antilia case and the murder case of Mansukh Hiren.
“On March 5, 2021, when the assembly session was going on, Singh was called for a briefing in this matter in Vidhan Bhavan. During the briefing, Singh was found giving misleading replies with regard to Antilia and Hiren cases. After discussing with the chief minister, the said matters were given for enquiry to the Anti-Terrorism Squad. Thereafter, after a few days during briefing at the chief minister’s residence, it was again found that Singh was giving misleading replies and was trying to hide the truth,” Deshmukh claimed in his statement.
“After a few days, the matter was taken over for investigation. On March 13, Vaze was arrested by the NIA. Thereafter on March 17, the chief minister and I as home minister took a decision to remove Singh from the commissioner’s post with immediate effect and posted him as DG Home Guards as I found him mastermind in the aforesaid matters as he was hiding the truth,” he claimed in the statement.
Deshmukh also denied giving any directions to any police officer of any rank. He also stated before the ED that he did not know how Vaze was reinstated as the matter pertained to the Police Commissioner Authority, Mumbai, that is, Param Bir Singh in this case. Deshmukh also stated that he had never met Vaze one-to-one and there was no question of having handed over any list of orchestra bars operating in Mumbai to him.
