The Supreme Court on Friday said that it is surprising that after serving in the state for more than 30 years, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh is now saying that he does not trust the state police.
The vacation bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice V Ramasubramanian said this while hearing a petition seeking to conduct the ongoing investigation against Singh by an independent agency outside Maharashtra.
The bench said, “It is commonly said, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others” Will withdraw and adopt another judicial remedy.
Singh is a 1988 batch IPS officer. On March 17, he was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner and appointed as the General Commander of the Maharashtra State Home Guard. After this change, he made allegations of corruption against the then state home minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Singh, submitted that successive cases cannot be filed against the petitioner just because he is a whistleblower.
He said that Singh is requesting for a direction to transfer all the ongoing investigations against him out of the state and handing over the investigation to an independent agency like CBI.
The bench said, “It is a surprise for us. You have been a part of the Maharashtra cadre and have given more than 30 years of long service. Now you are saying that you do not have faith in your own state police.”
In the hearing being held through video conferencing, Jethmalani said that the Bombay High Court has ordered a CBI inquiry into Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh.
He argued that the investigating officers were pressurizing Singh to withdraw the letter in which he made allegations against the former minister.
At the same time, the bench said, “These two are different things. The investigation against the former minister and the investigation against you (Singh) are different things. You have been in the police force for 30 years. You should not doubt the police force. Now you cannot say that you want to get the investigation done by an agency outside the state.
Jethmalani told the bench that Singh was not living in any ‘glass house’ and false cases had been filed to implicate him.
