Plea before Bombay HC seeks independent probe against Anil Deshmukh, Param Bir Singh

The petition also sought directions for investigating officers (IO) to secure CCTV footage of the places where the alleged criminal conspiracy took place, as per Singh’s letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Three days after being removed as Mumbai police commissioner and posted to the home guard in the wake of the Ambani house bomb scare case, Singh last Saturday wrote to Thackeray, alleging that Deshmukh had asked now suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month, including Rs 40-50 crore from 1,750 bars and restaurants, in Mumbai. Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently.

The contents of the eight-page letter to Thackeray are not linked to the Antilia security case. However, Singh said he had to pay the price for resisting Deshmukh’s “interference” in the Mumbai Police’s work.

Singh on Monday moved the Supreme Court, seeking an independent CBI probe into the alleged malpractices by Deshmukh. Referring to Singh’s letter, the plea before the high court alleged that Deshmukh is “abusing his powers by instructing officers to extort money from businessmen/common people. He is not trustworthy as the state home minister.”

Seeking a probe against Singh as Mumbai police commissioner, the petition said: “He was the superior police officer and had powers to take steps in accordance with the law under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. But he failed to do so for what reasons is the matter of investigation.”

The petitioner added that the Malabar Hill police station had failed to register an FIR on her complaint and if prompt action is not taken, the crucial evidence could be destroyed by the errant officials.