Param Bir Singh takes charge as Mumbai top cop

Param Bir Singh, a 1988-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was on Saturday appointed as the new police commissioner of Mumbai. Singh, who was director general (DG) of the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), will replace Sanjay Barve who retired on Saturday. Barve was given two extensions of three months each.

The state home department issued the concerning order on Tuesday, which also announced that Bipin K Singh, additional director general (ADG) of ACB, will take over as acting DG till further notice.

Singh's name was finalised for the Mumbai Police's top job after a high-level meeting between Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and home minister Anil Deshmukh on Friday evening.

Besides the six DG-rank officers, names of a few others of the rank of ADG were also considered for the post. ADGs Rashmi Shukla, Sadanand Date, K Venkatesham were among the contenders, senior officials aware of the selection process said on condition of



anonymity.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is a part of the three-party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Shiv Sena and the Congress, was in favour of Singh, while Thackeray was considering other names, a senior home department official who did not wish to be identified said. The NCP has the home portfolio in the state. "Ultimately, Singh was picked," the official said.

Before heading the ACB, Singh was additional director general of police (law and order) in the Maharashtra Police. He was also the Thane police commissioner; additional commissioner in the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS); deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in several zones in Mumbai; and superintendent of police (SP) in Chandrapur and Bhandara districts.

As Thane police chief, Singh was involved in cracking high-profile cases such as the arrest of Dawood Ibrahim's brother, Iqbal Kaskar, in an extortion case; Mira Road call centre case; Ephedrine drug haul case; and call data records (CDR) case, among others.

Singh, however, had courted controversy last year, after he held a press conference on August 31 at the state police headquarters over the arrest of activists with alleged Maoists links. In the conference, Singh had read out letters allegedly written by these activists, who were arrested in June. Later, the Bombay high court had slammed Singh for reading out the letters, which could be used as evidence in court.