A bailable warrant was on Tuesday issued against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh by retired judge, Justice K.U. Chandiwal, who is probing a March 20 letter written by him, levelling corruption charges against Anil Deshmukh, former Maharashtra Home Minister, to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
While issuing the warrant, Justice Chandiwal directed Mr. Singh to furnish ₹50,000 at the time of its execution.
The Chandiwal Inquiry Committee imposed a fine of ₹ 5,000 in June and ₹ 25,000 twice last month on him for repeatedly not appearing before it.
The government appointed the probe panel on March 30 last.
The letter mentioned several instances where Mr. Deshmukh directed now dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore a month from bars and restaurants.
CBI probe
On April 5, the Bombay High Court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Mr. Deshmukh. It was followed by an FIR against him.
On August 4, Mr. Singh moved the High Court challenging the legality of the order passed by Justice Chandiwal directing him to be present before the committee for cross-examination. He contended, “On May 5, the ‘Justice KU Chandiwal, High Level Inquiry Committee Procedure Rules’ of the inquiry committee came to be published. On July 5, Mr Singh submitted a letter to the Registrar of the Committee informing it that the scope entrusted upon it vide government resolution dated March 30, 2021, has been adjudicated upon.”
The Committee rejected Mr Singh’s contention and passed an order on July 30 directing him to be present before it on August 6 for cross-examination. Following which, several summons were issued to Mr. Singh.
