Parambir Singh still untraceable and salary on hold, says Maharashtra government.
The Maharashtra government has decided to withhold the salary of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh as of now, as the Mumbai police have not been able to track him since May this year. Earlier, the state Department of the Interior proposed declaring Param Bir Singh a fugitive.
According to Interior Department officials, the process of declaring Singh a fugitive has begun. The department has sought legal opinion so that the proposal is infallible by complying with legal formalities.
It has informed the Intelligence Office that the officer is no longer traceable and also sought the help of the central agency to register him. The Interior Ministry has also launched a departmental investigation against him for the lapses in the case of the Antilia explosives scare.
Read more: Meet the members of the committee appointed by the SC to investigate Pegasus.
Earlier, there were reports in the rounds that Parambir Singh had fled to Russia. However, Maharashtra Interior Minister Dilip Walse Patil did not confirm this, adding that investigating agencies have no information on the whereabouts of Param Bir Singh, who is charged in an alleged money laundering case.
“Together with the Union Ministry of the Interior, we are also looking for his whereabouts. I have heard something like this, but as a government official, you cannot go abroad without the authorization of the government … If you leave, then it is not good.” Said Patil.
He reported that a surveillance circular has been issued against Param Bir Singh. He has not appeared before investigative agencies despite having received several notices.
Singh was transferred from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner in March 2021 after City Police Officer Sachin Waze (now laid off from duty) was arrested by the NIA in the case of an explosives-laden SUV found near the house of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in South Mumbai, Antilia.
After his transfer to the National Guard, Param Bir Singh accused then-state Interior Minister Anil Deshmukh of asking police officers to collect bribes from hotel and bar owners, an accusation the latter denied. But Deshmukh later resigned from his post when CBI filed a case against him.
In September this year, Maharashtra Police Director General Sanjay Pandey submitted a proposal to suspend Param Bir Singh and other named police officers in the extortion cases. The Interior Ministry, however, returned the DGP’s proposal requesting more specific information on the role of each accused official in the cases.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.