Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Monday informed the Supreme Court that he is in India and not absconding. “I am very much in the country but hiding as I face threat to my life,” Param Bir Singh informed the apex court via his lawyer.
“I am ready to appear before the CBI within 48 hours. If I am wrong, take me to task,” the former Mumbai Police chief told the Supreme Court.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice SK Kaul had asked his lawyer to inform the court about Singh’s whereabouts.
The Supreme Court also granted protection from arrest to Param Bir Singh and asked him to join the investigations. The court has agreed to hear Singh’s plea and issued notice to the Maharashtra government and CBI. The next hearing has been scheduled for 6 December.
The Supreme Court expressed concern over the ongoing tussle between former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and said “we do find the picture very disturbing.” It also said that the matter is becoming “curiouser and curiouser” (sic).
A magistrate court in Bombay had last Wednesday declared Singh a “proclaimed offender” in an extortion case registered against him and some other police officers in the city.
Singh had last attended his office in May this year after which he went on leave. The state police had told the Bombay High Court last month that his whereabouts were not known.
The crime branch of Mumbai Police, which is probing the extortion case, had sought the proclamation against him, saying that the IPS officer could not be traced even after the issuance of a non-bailable warrant.
Under Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a court can publish a proclamation requiring an accused to appear if a warrant issued against him or her cannot be executed.
As per Section 83, after issuing such a proclamation the court can also order attachment of the offender’s properties.
Former assistant police inspector Sachin Waze is also an accused in the case, registered at the Goregaon police station.
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