Param Bir Singh questioned for nearly seven hours, non-bailable warrant cancelled

Param Bir Singh reached the Thane Nagar police station along with his lawyer around 10.30 am and was questioned for nearly seven hours.

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

Singh reached the Thane Nagar police station along with his lawyer around 10.30 am and was questioned for nearly seven hours, officials said.

Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Avinash Ambure was present at the police station to supervise the probe, sources said.

Advocate Puneet Bali, who is representing Singh in the Supreme Court, alleged that his cl

A case of extortion was registered against Singh and 28 others at the police station on the complaint lodged by builder and alleged bookie Ketan Tanna in July. As per the complaint, when Singh was Thane 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, retired inspector Pradeep Sharma, inspector Rajkumar Kothmire and DCP Deepak Devraj are among the accused. Two accused have been arrested in the case so far with one of them getting bail two days ago. Singh is facing a total of five extortion cases in Maharashtra, two of them in Thane.

The Thane police have formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe these two extortion cases. Singh, who was recently declared an absconder by a court, arrived in Mumbai on Thursday after remaining untraceable for over six months. He was questioned by the Mumbai police's crime branch in another extortion case on Thursday. He had been shunted out as Mumbai's top cop earlier this year after the Antilia bomb scare case. The Supreme Court granted Singh protection from arrest a few days ago.

Singh's lawyer Rajendra Mokashi said he remained present before the Thane court on Friday in between his questioning by police, and the warrant issued against him for non-appearance earlier was cancelled. He also provided a surety of Rs 15,000, the lawyer said.