Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh has now been declared a ‘proclaimed offender’ in an extortion case.
A metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai on Wednesday, 17 November, issued a proclamation against 'absconding' Param Bir Singh, who has been accused in an extortion case. The proclamation was also issued against two others – Vinay Singh and Riyaz Bhatti.
On Monday, the court had sought an affidavit from the investigating officer in the case before taking a call on the issuance of proclamation under Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), LiveLaw reported.
The investigating agency had informed the court that when their officers visited Singh’s Malabar Hill home on 10 November, the police guard told them that Singh had not visited the building in the last three months. The guard further said that neither did Singh’s family live there, nor did he know their whereabouts.
A third non-bailable warrant was issued against Param Bir Singh on 10 November.
Background
On 20 October, the Maharashtra government had informed the Bombay High Court that the whereabouts of Param Bir Singh were not known.
The state government had also told the high court that it will not be able to adhere to the assurance it had provided in May that it would not take any coercive action against the former Mumbai police commissioner.
“In view of other developments, we are getting reports that he is not traceable. Therefore, we cannot give a statement in this matter,” Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, representing the state government had said.
Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil had flagged reports that Singh had gone on leave from his post of DG Home Guards citing ill health on 5 May. Since there is suspicion that he may have left the country, a lookout notice was also issued.
(With inputs from LiveLaw.)
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