Supreme Court refuses to entertain Param Bir Singh's plea seeking transfer of probe against him outside Maharashtra

Param Bir Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner on March 17, and was made the General Commander of Maharashtra State Home Guard after he levelled allegations of corruption and misconduct against the then Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

File pic: Zee News

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (June 11) refused to entertain former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh's plea seeking transfer of all inquiries against him to an independent agency outside Maharashtra.

Refusing the plea of Param Bir Singh, the apex court said, "You've been in police force for 30 years. You can't now say you want your inquiries outside the state. You can't have doubts over your own force. You're part of Maharashtra cadre & now you don’t trust the functioning of your own state? This is a shocking allegation." 

While hearing Singh's plea seeking transfer of inquiries against him outside Maharashtra, an SC vacation bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian said, "It is commonly said, the person who lives in glass house should not throw stones at others."

After the apex court observed that it will pass an order dismissing the petition, Singh's counsel said he would withdraw the plea and would avail another appropriate remedy. 

Param Bir Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner on March 17 and was made the General Commander of Maharashtra State Home Guard after he levelled allegations of corruption and misconduct against the then Home Minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Singh, said the petitioner can't keep on facing one case after the other just because he is a "whistleblower" in the matter.

He said Singh is seeking directions for transferring all inquiries which are already ordered against him outside the state and also that the investigation be transferred to an independent agency like the CBI.

During the hearing conducted through video-conferencing, Jethmalani said that the Bombay High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations of Singh against Deshmukh.

He argued that Singh has been pressurised by the inquiry officer to withdraw his letter in which he had levelled allegations against the former minister. Jethmalani told the bench that Singh is not living in a "glass house" and false cases have been lodged to frame him.

Earlier, the Bombay High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations of Singh against Deshmukh who had to resign as the minister.

In his plea filed in the apex court, Singh has alleged that he has been made to face several inquiries by the state government and its instrumentalities and sought their transfer outside Maharashtra and a probe into them by an independent agency like the CBI.

In his plea filed before the top court, Singh had sought a CBI probe against Deshmukh who, he claimed, had asked police officers, including Sachin Waze, to extort Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants. He was then asked to go before the Bombay High Court which later ordered CBI probe into Singh's allegations.

The state government and the NCP leader subsequently filed an appeal in the apex court but failed to get any relief against the high court order.

(With Agency Inputs)