Param Bir challenges suspension 2 weeks before his retirement
From the Maharashtra cadre, current Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey and Singh will retire on June 30. Sources said Singh wanted to ensure that he did not retire with the tag of a suspended officer. The move could also make him eligible to claim pension.
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A source said, “Two weeks ago, Param Bir Singh challenged his suspension before the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
While generally IPS officers approach the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for grievances related to service, when an officer is suspended for over three months, the MHA is the relevant authority to raise the grievance.”
The source said a decision on whether the suspension is to be revoked will be taken within the next few days. If the MHA finds merit in his argument, his suspension could be revoked and he could retire as an on-duty
officer.
Sources said the former city police chief, who fell out with the government post the Antilia terror scare case in which ten policemen, including dismissed officer Sachin Waze, were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), did not want his retirment to be processed
while he was under suspension and hence, he approached the MHA. A government official confirmed that the Maharashtra government had also received an intimation of the same nearly two weeks ago.
An official said if the suspension is revoked, Singh may also be eligible for a pension payout provided his departmental inquiries have been cleared.
Soon after the Antilia bomb scare case, the MVA government had shunted out Singh as commissioner in March 2021.
Later he wrote a letter making allegations of corruption against then state home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh which led to the latter’s resignation and eventual arrest.
Later, a total of five FIRs were registered against Singh in connection with extortion charges. While a chargesheet was filed by the Mumbai Police in one of the cases, all the cases, including two enquiries being conducted against him by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), were eventually handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court. The CBI is currently investigating the case.
Apart from this, the NIA had also recorded the statement of Singh in connection with the Antilia case as well.
