Mumbai: A big step has been taken towards bringing Param Bir Singh to justice as a Mumbai court on Wednesday has accepted the Proclamation application filed by the state’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) which sought to declare the former Mumbai Police Commissioner as an ‘absconder’.
As per media sources, hard copies of the proclamation order passed by the Mumbai Court will be pasted on all of Param Bir Singh’s properties, including that in Mumbai and Chandigarh, after which the agency will wait for 30 days. ‘If the former Police Commissioner fails to show up in the 30 days, he will be formally declared as an ‘absconder’. If he is declared an ‘absconder’, his properties may be seized and subsequently auctioned and he would not be able to avail legal remedies’ stated a lawyer.
Mumbai Police on Saturday approached the magistrate court seeking to declare its former commissioner Param Bir Singh a proclaimed absconding offender in connection with an extortion case registered by the Goregaon police, along with two other accused – Vinay Singh and Riyaz Bhati — stating that they are absconding and could not be traced.
The magistrate court had last month issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the three in the case. A court in Thane had also issued an NBW against Singh in October. The third NBW was issued against him last week in connection with an extortion case lodged at the Marine Drive police station.
On Monday the the metropolitan magistrate’s court sought a report on the non-bailable warrant issued against Singh.
It said that teams were sent to all the last known residences of Singh and the two co-accused, but they could not be traced. At Singh’s Malabar Hill residence, his staff told the police that he has not stayed at the house for the past three months, nor have his family members visited the home.
The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court in October that Param Bir Singh could not be found. The state government’s plea came about three weeks after Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil raised concerns that the senior IPS officer, who took leave from his post as DG Home Guards in May due to ill health, had fled the country.
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