Param Bir Singh, an officer of the Indian Police Force inducted in 1988, came into the limelight in the early 90s for his role in fighting the underworld in Mumbai. In March 2021, he made headlines for denouncing Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for alleged corruption and malfeasance.
Wiki/Biography
Param Bir Singh was born on Wednesday, June 20, 1962 (now 61 years old, 2023) in Paota village, Faridabad, Haryana. His full name is Param Bir Singh Bhadana. Param completed his MA (Sociology) from Punjab University, Chandigarh in 1983. Thereafter, he prepared for UPSC CSE and became an IPS officer.
appearance
Height (approximate): 6 feet
Eye color: Black
Hair color: Black
Family and caste
Param Bir Singh belonged to a Hindu family from the Gurjar community.
Parents and siblings
Param’s father, Hoshiar Singh, is the revenue commissioner of Himachal Pradesh. His elder brother, Manbir Singh Bhadana, a lawyer by profession, was the chairman of HPSC till July 2019.
Manbir Singh Bhadana, brother of Param Bir
Wife and children
His wife Savita Singh, a law graduate from the University of Mumbai, is a partner in a Mumbai law firm called Khaitan & Company. She was an independent director of LIC Housing Finance Ltd until she stepped down in November 2020.
Param and Savita have two children. Their son Rohan Singh runs a business in India, while their daughter Raina works in London.
sign
Param Bir Singh’s signature
Career Highlights
- Param Bir Singh joined the Indian Police Service in 1988 and was posted to the Maharashtra Police. He started his probationary service as a Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) and was posted as an Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Chandrapur.
- In the early 1990s, he served as Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Mumbai Police and the Mumbai Crime Investigation Department. During his tenure as Deputy Commissioner of Police, he played an important role in combating underworld activities in Mumbai. At that time, he headed a team of commando specialist police officers.
- In 2008, Sadhvi Pragya (now a BJP MP) and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, who was then the ACP of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), were arrested by the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts.
- While serving as ATS chief, he arrested Saji Mohan, an IPS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, for drug smuggling in 2009. In 2019, a special court sentenced Saji Mohan to 15 years’ imprisonment under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
- He had served as Inspector General of Konkan region and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Law and Order.
- He was appointed as the Director General (DG) of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in February 2020. During his tenure as ACB director, the ACB cleared NCP leader Ajit Pawar in the Vidarbha irrigation scam case.
- In 2020, under his supervision as Mumbai Police Commissioner, the Mumbai Police launched an investigation into the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case.
- In November 2020, while he was the Mumbai Police Commissioner, the Mumbai Police arrested Republic TV owner Arnab Goswami for abetment to suicide.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs removed Singh from his post as Mumbai Police Chief on the grounds of administrative emergency and appointed him as the Commander-in-Chief of the Maharashtra National Guard. After the transfer, Singh protested to the Supreme Court of India, saying that his transfer was “arbitrary and illegal” and “did not complete the minimum two-year fixed term.”
- He will retire in June 2022.
dispute
- In November 2009, 1974 batch IPS officer Hasan Gafoor accused four senior police officers, Param Bir Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police, Anti-Terrorism Squad, KL Prasad, Joint Commissioner, Law and Order, Deven Bharati, Additional Commissioner, Crime Investigation Branch and K. Venkatesham, Additional Commissioner, Southern Zone, of failing to cope with the extreme situation during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and refusing to go to the scene to fight the terrorists. Gafoor made the above statement in an interview with the Weekly. Singh refuted Gafoor’s allegations with some evidence, including pictures broadcasted by news channels of him on duty at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels during the attacks. In 2010, Singh’s father Hoshiar Singh filed a defamation case against Gafoor, claiming that Gafoor’s remarks about his son were derogatory and baseless. In March 2011, the Bombay High Court suspended Gafoor’s trial. In 2012, Gafoor died of a heart attack at the age of 62.
- In December 2014, Sadhvi Pragya, who was arrested by the ATS in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blasts, claimed in a video that she was subjected to mental and physical torture during the initial days of police custody. She mentioned police officers like Param Bir Singh who used third degree tactics to force her to confess her involvement in the blasts.
- In November 2019, the Mumbai Anti-Corruption Bureau filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court stating that Ajit Pawar had no criminal record in the Maharashtra irrigation scam. As a result, Singh, who was the then director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, was accused by the opposition BJP of protecting Ajit Pawar in the investigation. Later, a senior official of the Anti-Corruption Bureau issued a statement claiming that Pawar had been cleared of the allegations against him in a preliminary investigation conducted by the water resources department in 2018 during the BJP’s rule in Maharashtra. The official from the Anti-Corruption Bureau said,
In July 2018, when the BJP was in power in the state, the water resources department wrote to the ACB saying that all proposals had been approved at the level of secretary of the water resources department and as per the rules of business, cabinet members were not responsible for decisions taken by the department”
- On May 12, 2023, the Maharashtra government dropped all charges against Param Bir Singh and lifted the suspension order issued against him in December 2021. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra suspended him for “indiscipline and other irregularities” and has launched a departmental investigation against him. Earlier, an SUV loaded with explosives was found near the home of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in South Mumbai, and police officer Sachin Vaze was arrested. The incident led to Param Bir Singh being removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner in 2021 and transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs. After being dismissed, Param Bir Singh accused the then Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of instructing Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore every month from hotels and bars in Mumbai. In July 2021, Param Bir Singh was accused of extortion by a builder named Ketan Tanna, who claimed that he was forced to pay the money. Another builder and hotel owner named Bimal Agrawal also accused him of extortion, saying that he was forced to pay Rs 9 lakh and buy two smartphones worth about Rs 2.92 lakh to avoid raids on his business.
Letter against Anil Deshmukh
In March 2020, after Param Bir Singh was removed as Mumbai Police Commissioner, he wrote a sensational letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, accusing Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of extortion and corruption. He wrote that Anil Deshmukh had assigned Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments in Mumbai. Sachin Vaze is a controversial police officer who was reinstated in 2020 after being suspended for 16 years in a fake clash case. Responding to Param Bir’s letter, Anil Deshmukh refuted the allegations against him, saying that he was hospitalized due to COVID-19 health complications during the period when Param Bir Singh claimed to have met Sachin Vaze. Deshmukh alleged that the letter was part of a conspiracy to defame him and the Maharashtra government.
Facts/Trivia
- Param Bir Singh was a top student of the Masters exam in Sociology at Punjab University.
- He played cricket in his college cricket team and after joining the civil services he served as the captain of the Maharashtra IPS cricket team.
- Param Bir Singh’s son Rohan is married to Rupali S. Meghe, daughter of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Sagar Meghe and granddaughter of prominent BJP politician Dattatraya R. Meghe. Datta Meghe, a three-time Lok Sabha member and once Rajya Sabha member, joined the BJP in 2014 after being a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) for about four decades.
(RL) Param Bir Singh, Savita Singh, Rupali, Rohan, Sagar Meghe (Rohan’s father-in-law) and others at Rohan’s wedding
- On December 24, 2012, Bollywood star Salman Khan was absent from the court hearing, citing being out of town. However, on the same day, media cameras captured him leaving a lavish party in Bandra. Interestingly, Param Bir, who was then the Special Inspector General of Police, was also photographed leaving the party earlier than Khan.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education