Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh has alleged that Anil Deshmukh, the ex-home minister of Maharashtra, told him multiple times that extorted funds were funnelled to Jayant Patil, the state president of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Singh's claims emerged during an interview with PTI Video, where he outlined a supposedly organised effort to collect illicit funds during the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government from 2019 to 2021.
"I have electronic and video evidence for whatever I am saying, and I will make it public at the appropriate time," Singh claimed, escalating the ongoing political drama in Maharashtra, where assembly polls are due in October.
Singh asserted that Deshmukh set a staggering collection target of Rs 100 crore for his officers, specifically from Mumbai, while also discussing plans to target key opposition figures, including former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Reacting to this, Salil Deshmukh, Anil Deshmukh's son and a leader of the NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar, dismissed Singh's accusations as politically motivated, suggesting the former Mumbai police chief was simply following a script provided by the ruling BJP.
"Param Bir Singh, where were you all these days? You're just reading the script given to you by the BJP and Devendra Fadnavis. It won't matter; you will be arrested by the NIA regardless of how much you try to please the BJP," Salil Deshmukh responded from Nagpur.
It may be mentioned here that the then-MVA government in 2021 had set up a commission headed by Justice (retd) KU Chandiwal of the Bombay High Court after Singh wrote a letter addressed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and others in which he claimed Deshmukh ran an extortion racket and asked police officers to collect Rs 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other establishments.
The panel was required to inquire into three things -- whether Singh had submitted any proof in his letter; whether the allegations levelled by him, citing the messages from assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Patil, assistant police inspector Sachin Waze (now dismissed) have any truth; and whether it warranted a probe by the Anti-Corruption Bureau or any other investigating agency.
The panel's report was submitted in 2022 but its contents still remain secret.
Singh elaborated on the alleged pressure his officers faced to meet the extortion target, claiming that discussions involved individuals connected with both Anil Deshmukh and his son.
He described a scenario where people involved in illegal activities, including the banned gutkha business, were summoned to negotiate the terms of payments.
There were negotiations at a hotel in the western suburbs," Singh alleged, claiming an extortion racket was being operated from that location.
The former IPS officer also claimed Anil Deshmukh had told him that the money collected would go directly to Jayant Patil, who managed the then-undivided NCP's finances.
Patil, who served as the water resources minister in the MVA government, has remained aligned with Sharad Pawar since the NCP's split in 2023.
Singh recounted meetings attended by Anil Deshmukh and other political leaders, where he was pressured to file cases against opposition figures such as BJP MLA Jaykumar Rawal and former minister of the saffron party Girish Mahajan.
He insisted the complaints were baseless and that he refused to proceed with any charges.
In one particularly contentious meeting at the official residence of then-CM Thackeray, Singh claimed there was pressure to arrest BJP leader Pravin Darekar in a case that had already been closed.
"I said no cases could be made out and I refused," he said, highlighting a pattern of pressure during his tenure as the Mumbai police commissioner (February 2020 to March 2021).
Singh alleged that not only was there a plan to implicate him, but also to target prominent opposition leaders, including Fadnavis, and even a minister in the MVA government, Eknath Shinde, who is now the CM heading the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government.
He claimed an old investigation into Urban Land Ceiling violations in adjoining Thane district was reopened with the intent to implicate these leaders, orchestrated by Anil Deshmukh and other top politicians of the then-ruling coalition.
The allegations made by Singh have reignited discussions about corruption and abuse of power within the state's political and law enforcement systems, as parties brace for potential fallout from these revelations in the upcoming assembly polls.
Anil Deshmukh, who is locked in a war of words with deputy CM Fadnavis, who handles the home portfolio, on Sunday said that the latter had been targeting him through Singh and dismissed policeman Waze.
The NCP (SP) leader claimed that Waze and Singh were just parroting Fadnavis's lines.
On Monday, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar defended his party colleague, saying Singh's allegations against Anil Deshmukh were "irresponsible".
"As his (Singh) conduct was inappropriate, action was initiated against him," Pawar maintained said.
Anil Deshmukh resigned as home minister in April 2021 after Singh's damning letter about the former setting a target to collect Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.
Singh was shunted out as the Mumbai police commissioner in March 2021 after facing criticism for his handling of the bomb scare outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house in south Mumbai. He was later suspended and eventually retired in 2022.
