MUMBAI: Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh has submitted an affidavit to the probe panel appointed by the Maharashtra government, saying that he has no further evidence to substantiate his 'Rs 100 crore collection' allegations against former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Singh said that he had no other evidence against Deshmukh apart from his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The submission was made to the one-member Justice K U Chandiwal Commission at its previous hearing on October 13.
The revelations came two days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) -- based on a CBI FIR arising out of Singh's allegations -- questioned and later arrested Deshmukh, who is now in the agency's custody till November 6.
A copy of the affidavit is in possession of The New Indian Express. The affidavit says that Singh does not want to be cross-examined in this case now.
“Whatever Singh wanted to disclose has been disclosed to the Supreme Court and Maharashtra Chief Minister and he has nothing further to add. He does not intend to make any submission before the commission now,” reads the affidavit submitted by his advocate.
Deshmukh's lawyer Aniket Nikam said, "It's now clear that Singh had no proof against the ex-minister and simply hurled the allegations for the sake of it."
Deshmukh consistently rubbished all allegations and asked where was the complainant who hurled charges against him and then disappeared.
NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said that they have been saying from the first day when the letter was written by Singh that it was politically motivated. “Now, our suspicion has been established that the BJP used Singh to level allegations against former home minister Anil Deshmukh to malign his image and that of the party and government in Maharashtra. This affidavit of Singh is an indirect admission by him that Deshmukh was a victim of false charges,” the NCP leader said.
Nawab Malik, NCP chief spokesperson, said, "Param Bir Singh had merely written a letter. He had not given any proof or evidence. It's an indirect admission that Deshmukh is innocent. And BJP is using this case for a witch hunt and targeting their political opponents. ED should release him immediately and stop political vendetta."
Earlier, Singh had ignored several summonses by the probe commission, coughed out fines three times and skipped a bailable warrant.
Singh also faces two non-bailable arrest warrants issued by a Mumbai and Pune court as he is named in some extortion cases lodged against him by the police.