MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday said former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh can approach the vacation bench of the HC in connection with his plea seeking to quash an FIR registered against him by Thane police in connection with an atrocities case.
A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale could not take up Singh's plea for hearing on Thursday due to paucity of time.
"You (Singh) can move the vacation bench if there is any urgency," the court said.
Senior counsel Darius Khambata, appearing for the government, said there was no urgency in thematter.
Singh's counsel Mukul Rohatgi said the petitioner would decide if there was an urgency or not.
The HC then said it cannot hear the plea on Thursday and the petitioner has the liberty to move the vacation bench.
Singh in his petition had sought quashing of the FIR registered against him under the Prevention of Atrocities Act last month.
The FIR was based on a complaint by police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge posted at Akola in Maharashtra.
Ghadge in his complaint had made a series of allegations of corruption against Singh and other officers, in the period when Singh was posted with the Thane police.
The Akola police had registered a Zero FIR (mode of lodging FIR in any police station irrespective of the offence committed in that area or any other area) and it was later transferred to the Thane police for investigation.
Ghadge, who was posted in the Thane police commissionerate during 2015-2018, had alleged that Singh pressured him to drop the names of some persons from a case and when he refused to do so, Singh embroiled him in false cases.
The case has been lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence and sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.