THE CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a closure report in one of the four pending FIRs against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh last month. Five FIRs registered against Singh during the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra had been transferred to the CBI when the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government came to power in the state. Of these five FIRs, the CBI had closed one FIR in January last year. The closure report filed by the CBI last month was in the FIR registered at Bazarpeth police station against Singh and 32 others based on the complaint given by former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bhimrao Ghadge. The FIR had a total of 27 sections, including those relating to criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and some sections of the Prevention of Atrocities Act. In his written complaint to the Maharashtra government and the Director General of Police (DGP), Ghadge had alleged that Singh had tried to close the case against some builders and KDMC officials in 2015 despite there being evidence against them. When the court did not accept the closure report, Ghadge was asked to investigate the matter. Ghadge alleged that soon after he began investigating the case, Singh, who was the then Thane Police Commissioner, asked him to not name the accused in his enquiry report. He alleged that when he refused to follow the orders, Singh in collusion with some other officers got an FIR registered against Ghadge. In its closure report, the CBI said that the allegations made by Ghadge could not be substantiated, following which a closure report was being submitted in court. Three more cases that had been registered by the Maharashtra police, which were transferred to CBI, are pending with them.
