Param Bir Singh, under whom ACB gave clean chit to Ajit Pawar, appointed as new Mumbai Police commissioner

The Maharashtra government on Saturday appointed Param Bir Singh as the new Mumbai police commissioner. Singh succeeds Sanjay Barve, who retired on Saturday.

Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was posted as the Director General (DG) of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) before his appointment as the Mumbai Police Commissioner.

File image of Param Bir Singh. ANI

Bipin K Singh, the Additional Director General (ADG) of the ACB, has now been given the additional charge as the DG of the anti-graft agency.

According to reports, Singh has also held other important posts including that of Thane police commissioner, of DCP in several important zones in Mumbai, and of Superintendent of Police in districts of Chandrapur and Bhandara.

As Thane police commissioner, he had overseen the investigation into several high profile cases like the Ephedrine drug cartel bust case, in which former actor Mamta Kulkarni's was an accused, reported The Indian Express.

In December last year, the ACB under Singh's helm, had given a clean chit to NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who is currently the state deputy chief minister. Pawar was facing probe in connection with alleged scam involving 12 Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) projects.

In a video message posted on Twitter, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said, "Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Barve is retiring today. Singh has been named as his successor. This announcement has been made after discussion with the honourable chief minister."

Earlier in the day, outgoing Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Barve was given a farewell by his colleagues at Naigaon police headquarters. Barve, who had taken charge as the commissioner in February last year, had got two extensions, first in August and then in November.

With inputs from agencies