Param Bir Singh accused Anil Deshmukh of asking cops to collect money from restaurant, bar owners (File)
The allegations of corruption levelled against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh are "baseless" and a "vindictive act" of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Param Bir Singh, a Mumbai-based builder claimed in his affidavit submitted before an inquiry commission today.
The builder, Bimal Agarwal, who had filed an extortion case against Param Bir Singh and dismissed police officer Sachin Waze, submitted a 26-page affidavit before the one-member commission of Justice Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal (Retd).
The Maharashtra government in March had formed the commission to conduct a probe into the corruption allegations levelled by Param Bir Singh against the then state home minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh.
In his affidavit, the builder described the manner in which Sachin Waze extorted money from him, allegedly at the behest of Param Bir Singh.
"The entire episode of writing a letter with baseless allegations and attacking Anil Deshmukh as well as the state government is the vindictive act of Singh and Waze," Bimal Agarwal said in the affidavit.
He also urged the commission to dismiss all the allegations made in Param Bir Singh's letter to Uddhav Thackeray "in the interest of justice", and recommend relevant action against Singh, Waze and others.
The next hearing in the matter will be held on August 30.
Based on a complaint filed by the 48-year-old builder, the Mumbai Police registered an FIR against Param Bir Singh last week.
This is the fourth such case against Singh and the second in Mumbai. Two other cases were filed in Thane city. All these cases were registered within a span of one month.
In this case, Sachin Waze and four others - Sumit Singh alias Chintu, Alpesh Patel, Vinay Singh alias Babloo and Riyaz Bhati - have also been named as accused, according to the police.
As per Mr Agarwal's complaint, the accused extorted Rs 9 lakh from him for not conducting a raid on two bars and restaurants, which he ran in partnership, and also forced him to buy two smartphones worth around Rs 2.92 lakh for them. The incident occurred between January 2020 and March 2021.
Accordingly, the case was filed under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the six accused and a probe was launched.
Param Bir Singh is currently posted as Director-General Home Guards and he has not been attending office since May as he is on sick leave.
He was shunted out as Commissioner of the Mumbai Police in March after the arrest of Sachin Waze in connection with the explosives-laden vehicle found near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai.
Later, Param Bir Singh claimed in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that Anil Deshmukh used to ask police officers to collect money from restaurant and bar owners in Mumbai.
Anil Deshmukh, who resigned from the post of state home minister in April, has repeatedly denied all allegations.