Param Bir damaged cops' image, says CID, seeks NBW against ex-Mumbai CP

A court in Mumbai on Tuesday remanded two police officers in the custody of the Maharashtra criminal investigation department in a case of alleged extortion in which former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh is one of the accused.

Singh created a 'bad image' for the Mumbai police, special public prosecutor Shekhar Jagtap told the court while seeking remand of the arrested officers.

The CID has also sought a non-bailable warrant against Singh in the case, and the court is likely to pass order on the plea on Wednesday.

"The notorious approach of Param Bir Singh, for ages, has created bad image of the Mumbai police and others," said Jagtap.

Courts have already issued warrants against Singh in two other cases of extortion, one of them registered in Mumbai and another in neighbouring Thane.

Police inspectors Nandkumar Gopale and Asha Korke, previously posted with the Mumbai crime branch, were produced on Tuesday before additional chief metropolitan magistrate R M Nerlikar in an extortion case registered at Marine Drive police station in Mumbai.

Gopale is currently posted at the Khandala police training centre while Korke is with the Naigaon local arms unit.

The judge sent them in seven days' custody of the CID after hearing arguments.

The two were arrested on Monday based on the complaint filed by real estate developer Shyamsunder Agrawal on July 22.

Seeking their custody, the CID said they had played active role in the crime and it wanted to investigate their connection with the other accused and their financial transactions.

The money that was extorted from the complainant was yet to be recovered, the CID said, adding that it wanted to confront some witnesses with the accused.

Advocate Aniket Nikam, appearing for Gopale, opposed the remand plea, saying the accused had cooperated with the probe and appeared before the investigators four times.

The FIR was registered in April for the offence allegedly committed in March and what was the CID doing for four months (after that), he asked, pointing out that no charge sheet has been filed yet.

Gopale had won accolades multiple times during his service and cracked several cases, the lawyer said.

Advocate Rahul Arote, appearing for Korke, argued that his client had an 'unblemished career' and there was no evidence against her. She had cooperated with the probe and visited the CID six times, he said.

The FIR names Param Bir Singh and seven others including five police officers -- deputy commissioner of police Akbar Pathan, assistant commissioner Shrikant Shinde, ACP Sanjay Patil, Korke and Gopale.

The CID is also probing a case registered against Shyamsunder Agrawal under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act at Juhu police station for alleged links with gangster Chhota Shakeel.

Agrawal had alleged that based on this 'false' case, Param Bir Singh and other police officers extorted money from him at the instigation of his former business partner Sanjay Punamiya.