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The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the petition filed by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh seeking protection from coercive steps by Mumbai Police in the cases registered against him. During the hearing the Court orally remarked, "This scenario is disturbing! The head of the police doesn’t have trust in the police. We are not going to pre-empt."

Singh who has once headed the State Police had knocked on the Apex Court's door to quash the FIR against him registered in Mumbai or hand over the investigation in the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Today, refuting Singh's claims that the state has tried to scuttle the proceedings of the CBI, the bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.M. Sundresh said the attempt by the police to stop the CBI from probing has not been proved so far.

Further, being told that the state of Maharashtra has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the order of the Bombay High Court which had refused its prayer to formulate an SIT to investigate the allegations leveled by Parambir Singh against former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, the Court adjourned the matter.

Directing the matter to be listed after three weeks, the Court continued the stay on Singh's arrest while also granting interim relief to another accused Binu Nayan Varghese. The Court also granted an interim stay on Varghese's arrest.

Furthermore, all the accused have also been directed to cooperate in the investigation. 

In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the CBI and the agency filed an affidavit in response today. It said it is clearly visible that the case is being jeopardized and, therefore, it should be ensured that such attempts fail. However, the Court said that no such attempt has been proven yet.

The matter pertains to a Special Leave Petition  (SLP) filed by Singh against the judgment of Bombay High Court dated September 16. The High Court had dismissed the petition by Singh challenging two preliminary inquiries against him by the government.

On November 22, 2021, the Apex Court had granted protection to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh from being arrested. The Court also directed Singh to join the investigation.

Case Title: Param Bir Singh vs State Of Maharashtra