Parambir Singh questioned for about seven hours, non-bailable warrant cancelled

Mumbai: Police in neighboring Thane city on Friday recorded the statement of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh in an extortion case. He also appeared in a local court which quashed the non-bailable warrant issued against him.

Officials said Singh along with his lawyer reached the Thane Nagar police station around 10.30 am and was interrogated for about seven hours.

Sources said that Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Avinash Ambure was present at the police station to oversee the investigation.

Advocate Puneet Bali, representing Singh in the Supreme Court, alleged that his faction

In July, a case of extortion was registered against Singh and 28 others at the police station on the complaint of builder and alleged bookie Ketan Tanna. According to the complaint, when Singh was Thane’s police commissioner between 2018 and 2019, he and other accused extorted Rs 1.25 crore from Tanna and Rs 3 crore from Tanna’s friend Sonu Jalan.

Apart from Singh, the accused include retired inspector Pradeep Sharma, inspector Rajkumar Kothmayor and DCP Deepak Devraj. So far two accused have been arrested in the case, out of which one got bail two days back. Singh has a total of five extortion cases in Maharashtra, of which two are in Thane.

Thane Police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe both these extortion cases. Singh, who was recently declared a fugitive by a court, arrived in Mumbai on Thursday after going missing for more than six months. The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police on Thursday questioned him in another extortion case. He was removed as the top police officer of Mumbai earlier this year after the Antilia bomb case. The Supreme Court had granted protection from arrest to Singh a few days back.

Singh’s lawyer Rajendra Mokashi said he appeared before the Thane court on Friday amid his interrogation by the police and the warrant issued against him for not appearing earlier was quashed. The lawyer said that he also gave a surety of Rs 15,000.