Pressure piles on former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh

Param Bir Singh. File pic/Ashish Raje

Former commissioner of Mumbai police, Param Bir Singh, was booked in a case of extortion and cheating by the Thane police on Thursday. Along with Singh, a DCP rank officer of the Mumbai Economic Offences Wing (EOW), has also been named in the FIR for allegedly extorting Rs 2 crore and land in Bhayandar.

Thane police commissioner Jai Jeet Singh confirmed the development to mid-day.

A real estate businessman from Thane, Sharad Agarwal, has alleged that when Singh was Thane police commissioner, he along with the DCP, crime (now DCP EOW Mumbai police) met him at his bungalow in Thane and told him to pay Rs 20 crore to release his uncle Shyamsundar Agarwal from prison. Shyamsundar had been arrested by Thane police. "I was threatened by the DCP that my uncle would be booked under MCOCA if I failed to pay," the complainant said.

This is the third FIR registered against Singh. On Wednesday the Marine Drive police booked him along with other officers in a similar case of extortion and land grabbing. The first FIR of extortion and atrocities was registered at Vakola police station by Inspector Bhimraj Ghadge.

The FIR has been registered under various sections of IPC which include extortion and cheating against Singh, Parag Manere and others. Singh's close aide Sanjay Punamia, Sunil Jain and Manoj Ghatkar are also named. Punamia and Jain were arrested by Marine Drive police on Wednesday and remanded in police custody.