IPS officer claims ex-CP Param Bir Singh asked him to “close the investigation”

(This story first appeared in The Times of India on March 30, 2021)

Bombay: IPS Officer Sanjay Pandey, who has been entrusted with the state government’s investigation against another IPS officer over a series of allegations, in a letter accused the former police commissioner Param Bir Singh threaten the complainant to withdraw his complaint. Pandey, in a letter dated December 23, also mentioned that Singh himself wrote to her asking her to close the investigation.

Pandey, the state’s most senior police officer, was recently transferred to the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC). He wrote to the Maharashtra government for ignoring him for the post of director general of state police, the state’s top cop.

Retired Deputy Police Commissioner Rajendra Trivedi had complained about Director-General Deven Bharti’s alleged links with a few people of dubious origin.

Singh and Bharti did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The Aam Admi Party Monday raised the issue in the public domain.

Pandey in her letter also mentioned an audio clip that contained Singh’s conversation with Trivedi, where the latter was asked to withdraw the complaint after writing a letter to the state government. “From the audio clip, it is clear that Param Bir Singh is pressuring the complainant to withdraw his complaint. He also uses the names of officials with whom he can close this case and also threatens the complainant with his contacts with the government. ”

In the audio clip, Singh also claimed that Pandey did not have the authority to investigate the case of a senior IPS officer on the direction of the Home Secretary.

Singh is overheard in the clip that he can secure the closure of the investigation by speaking directly to the Home Secretary, but he doesn’t want to go to the “next level†and instead wants Trivedi to withdraw the complaint by writing a letter to the government.