Let cops carry on probe against ex-Mumbai CP: SC

One-liner: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Mumbai Police to carry on the investigation against former police commissioner Param Bir Singh but restrained it from filing charge sheets on the FIRs against him for misconduct.

Bench direction: A bench also directed the CBI to file its response on the issue of whether the probe should be handed over to it. The top court said it was only concerned with the likelihood of bias.

• Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said the FIRs should also be entrusted to the central probe agency and he will file an affidavit regarding the same
• Senior advocate Darius Kambatta, appearing for Maharashtra, stated that Singh's petition was a service dispute against departmental inquiries, which should be contested before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)

Govt acting with mala fide: Senior advocate Puneet Bali, appearing for Singh, told the apex court that the Maharashtra govt was acting with mala fide (in bad faith) against the former police commissioner.

• The top court extended the interim protection granted to Singh till Jan 1, 2022, when it will hear the matter next

Not a whistleblower: The state police had earlier told the apex court that Singh cannot be considered as a whistleblower under the law as he chose to speak out against corruption involving former home minister Anil Deshmukh only after his transfer.

• The HC had held that it was a service matter and rejected his claim that the govt's action was a consequence of his allegations of corruption against  Anil Deshmukh.

Need to know: After Singh was shunted out as Mumbai police commissioner in March 2021 in the aftermath of the Antilia bomb scare case, in a letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray, he levelled corruption allegations against Deshmukh.

• In his petition, Singh had also alleged that DGP Pande told him that the inquiries were the fall-out of his allegations against Deshmukh, an NCP leader.

Source: PTI