Another serious charge has been levelled against former police commissioner Param Bir Singh, wanted in several ongoing cases under investigation including the Antilia Bomb scare, Mansukh Hiren murder case, and the Mumbai police extortion case, among others.
Retired Mumbai police ACP Shamsher Khan Pathan has accused Param Bir Singh of hiding the mobile phone of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab after he was caught.
Shamsher Khan Pathan had written to the Mumbai Commissioner of Police and demanded an enquiry and action in the matter.
As per reports, the retired ACP stated in the letter that the then-senior PI Mali of the DB Marg police station had informed him that he had recovered a mobile phone from Kasab, which was kept with the police station’s police constable Kamble. He further wrote that Parambir Singh had then arrived at the signal at Girgaum Chowpatty, where Kasab was apprehended and took the phone with him. He should have handed the phone over to Ramesh Mahale, the investigating officer, but instead, he took it with him.
Pathan said that at the time of the attack, Kasab and other terrorists were speaking with their handlers in Pakistan. He might have known who the Pakistani handler was and if there were any Indians in the group.
This matter should now be thoroughly probed, said Pathan.
Other allegations levelled at Param Bir Singh during the 26/11 Mumbai attack
It may be recalled how Hasan Gafoor, who was the Mumbai Commissioner of Police during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, had accused senior police officials, including Param Bir Singh of not taking on the terrorists. He had said that Param Bir Singh and three others “ did not appear keen on responding to the situation”.
In 2009, soon after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, a petition was filed against Parambir Singh and three other additional commissioners of police on the charges of dereliction of duty during the Mumbai terror attack.
A Public interest litigation (PIL) was filed seeking action against these officers and their suspension on the charges that officers such as Param Bir Singh had failed to follow orders of the then police commissioner.
The petitioner had claimed that had the senior officers obeyed the orders, the terror situation would have been brought under control much earlier and many lives could have been saved. The petitions said that if the officers had acted properly, two more terrorists could have been caught alive. The petition was filed based on Hasan Gafoor’s statement.
Singh appears before Mumbai Police after a court declares him a ‘proclaimed offender’, issues warning
Meanwhile, former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday morning appeared before the crime branch of the Mumbai Police, which is probing an extortion case against him. The IPS officer, who was earlier declared a ‘proclaimed offender’ by Mumbai’s Esplanade court, had been missing since October.
“I will join the investigation as directed by the court,” Singh told reporters soon after he arrived in Mumbai. On Wednesday, the IPS officer, who is facing several extortion cases in Maharashtra, had said that he was in Chandigarh.
Recently, on November 17, former police commissioner Param Bir Singh was declared a proclaimed offender in an extortion case by Mumbai’s Esplanade court. The court further passed a proclamation to declare former Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh an ‘absconder’ if he does not respond to the summons in 30 days.
Singh had not reported to work since May this year after he was relieved of his duties as Mumbai police commissioner and his subsequent allegations of corruption against then Maharashtra HM Anil Deshmukh.
