Won't Arrest Param Bir Singh Till May 20, Maharashtra Police Tells Bombay High Court

The State agreed to make the statement while seeking time to respond to Singh's plea for quashing of the FIR against him and interim relief for no coercive action.

On Thursday, the vacation bench of Justices PB Varale and NR Borkar heard Senior Counsel Mahesh Jethmalani's submissions for Singh, recorded Senior Counsel Darius Khambata's statement for the State, and adjourned the matter for May 20, 2021.

Khambata informed the court that he had received the compilation of documents only an hour ago. Advocate Pradnya Talekar appeared for the original complainant.

The Complaint

Police Inspector Bhimrao Ghadge alleged that Singh misused his authority as Commissioner of Police (Thane) in 2015 to instigate four false complaints against him within eight days because he refused to drop the names of certain influential people in the cases he was investigating.

Ghadge claims that Singh instigated the same accused, against whom he was conducting an investigation, to lodge cases against him. He was incarcerated for 14 months owing to these complaints, he says.

The officer said he approached the State Human Rights Commission, police against Singh, DGP, Home Minister but in vain. Finally, he approached the Bombay High Court, asking the Director-General of Police to decide on his complaint in 2018.

Even as a contempt petition was pending, the State registered an FIR against Param Bir Singh and 32 others on April 28, 2021, for offences under sections 3(1)(p), 3(1)(q), 3(1)(r), 3(2)(ii), 3(2)(v) and 3(2)(vii) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Atrocities Prevention) Act 1989, Sections 7(1-A) of the Civil Rights Protection Act 1955 r/w section 109, 110, 111, 113,166,167, 500, 120B of the IPC r/w Section 22 of the Maharashra Police Act.

The FIR registered at Akola was later transferred to Bazaar Peth Police Station in Kalyan, Thane.

Param Bir Singh's petition

Param Bir Singh has approached the High Court u/s 482 of the CrPC, seeking to quash the FIR. He alleged that the Maharashtra Government was pursuing the FIR to pressure him to withdraw his corruption allegations against former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Regarding Ghatge's FIR, Singh says it does not disclose a cognisable offence and vital facts have been suppressed. He has called the FIR an abuse of the process of law, registered with "sinister motives."

Singh further says that sections of the SC/ST Act have been wrongly applied and there is no explanation for why the FIR was registered belatedly.

He has sought a CBI inquiry into the attempts being made to pressurise him. He also has sought a stay on all the proceedings to the subject FIR.

[Param Bir Singh vs State of Maharashtra]