Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh, who is accused under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, was granted interim relief by the High Court on Friday.
Bombay High Court on Friday directed the state government not to arrest him till May 24. While a hearing on this petition is pending, we are instructing the state government not to arrest them. A division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade on late Friday night heard a petition filed by Singh, seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him and demanding a CBI probe into the case.
The FIR is based on a complaint by police inspector Ghadge, now posted at Akola in Maharashtra. Ghadge made a series of allegations of corruption against Singh and other officers when Singh was posted in Thane. The IPS officer pressured him to drop the names of some persons from a case and when he refused, Singh framed him up in false cases, the FIR, now transferred to Thane, claimed.
After hearing the parties at length for over an hour, the court at midnight said it now ceases to be a vacation bench, and hence the matter would have to be heard on Monday. "Since the matter is part heard, the State of Maharashtra in the meantime shall not arrest Param Bir Singh till the next date of hearing," the court said.
Singh's counsel Mahesh Jethmalani argued that the FIRs lodged against Singh was a result of the letter the former Mumbai commissioner of police wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister against Deshmukh. "There is not a shred of evidence against Singh in this case. The state is just vindictive towards someone who has proved to be inconvenient to them. A disgruntled person, who is already accused in several cases, is picked up by the government only to implicate Singh," Jethmalani said.