'FIR Must, You Are Not Above Law': Bombay HC On Param Bir Singh’s Plea Seeking CBI Probe Against Deshmukh

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni in stern remarks asked former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh why he did not lodge a police complaint if he was aware of an alleged wrongdoing being committed by the minister.

Param Bir Singh Case Hearing In Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court hearing the plea filed by former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh seeking CBI investigation in the alleged corrupt malpractices of Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, asked him why he did not lodge a police complaint if he was aware of an alleged wrongdoing being committed by the minister.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni in stern remarks said, "You (Singh) are a senior police officer. You are not a layman. You were duty-bound to register a complaint against any wrongdoing. Despite knowing that an offence is being committed by your boss, you (Singh) remained silent." 

The two-judge bench observed that without an FIR the HC cannot intervene or direct for an independent agency like the CBI to carry out an investigation.

The High Court further noted that Singh cannot convert the HC into a magistrate court. When Singh’s counsel argued that his client wanted to avoid this “chakravyuh”, the court slammed the party saying, "Are you saying that you are above the law? this was the procedure laid down in law. 

Singh had moved to the High Court after Supreme Court last week refused to entertain his plea saying that the allegations levelled by him against Maharashtra home minister are very serious. The top court asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Param Bir Singh to approach Bombay High Court for seeking CBI probe.

The two-judge bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy also asked former Mumbai Police Commissioner why he has not made Maharashtra Home Minister a party in his petition as the allegations are levelled against him. 

Singh has accused Deshmukh of taking bribes for transfers/postings of police personnel and regularly interfering in investigation of crimes by dictating the direction of the probe to policemen. He had said that Deshmukh was in direct contact with now-suspended police officer Sachin Vaze and instructed him to extort Rs 100 crore of illegal money every month.