Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has told the Enforcement Directorate in his statement that there was direct pressure on him from the then Maharashtra home minister, Anil Deshmukh, to reinstate police officer Sachin Vaze (now dismissed). Singh also claimed that he had direct instructions from Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray as well, with regard to the reinstatement of Vaze. Singh’s statement is part of the chargesheet filed by the agency against Deshmukh.
When asked about the reinstatement of Vaze in Mumbai Police, Singh had told the ED that Vaze was reinstated in June 2020, after a review meeting, where all cases of suspension are reviewed by a committee headed by the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, some joint commissioners and other senior officers.
“I would like to state that there was direct pressure from Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for his (Vaze’s) reinstatement. I also got direct instructions from Aaditya Thackeray and CM Uddhav Thackeray. I got similar instructions for his posting to the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police and also for giving him charge of some important unit there. Some important cases were assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Unit which was headed by Sachin Vaze on the instructions of the CM and home minister. He was being directly called by both for briefing and giving instructions for further action,” Singh had told ED in his statement on December 3, last year.
Singh had further told the ED that Vaze had also told him that for his reinstatement and posting, Anil Deshmukh had demanded Rs 2 crore.
Singh further told the ED in his statement, “I state that I would like to place on record that I learned from sources that Anil Deshmukh met Sachin Vaze at the Chandiwal Commission on November 30, 2021 and pleaded with him to withdraw his statement given to the Enforcement Directorate. I have also learned that Sachin Vaze is being pressurised in jail and is being strip-searched and abused on a daily basis for the same”.
In March last year, Singh had alleged in his letter to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray that Deshmukh had asked Vaze to extort Rs 100 crore a month from bar and restaurant owners in Mumbai.
The CBI had then registered an FIR under corruption charges against Deshmukh, after which the ED had registered an ECIR against Deshmukh on money laundering charges. In the said case, the ED had earlier arrested two staffers of Deshmukh - Kundan Shinde and Sanjeev Palande.
Deshmukh, who is currently in judicial custody, was arrested by the ED on November 3, after he appeared before it on the previous day, having earlier skipped five summons in the case.
Singh too had been earlier summoned by the ED on a couple of occasions but he never deposed before the agency. He finally surfaced in public in November last year after having been underground since May, after moving the Supreme Court and being granted temporary protection from arrest.
After being shunted out and posted as Director General of Home Guards, Singh was suspended by the Maharashtra government following the registration of FIRs against him and some other police personnel on charges of extortion. He faces at least five extortion cases in Maharashtra.
