The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by IPS officer Param Bir Singh seeking to quash inquiries initiated against him by the Maharashtra government, and said he can approach the Central Administrative Tribunal. A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar held that it was a service matter, and rejected his claim that the government’s action was a consequence of his allegations of corruption against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh.

After he was shunted out as the Mumbai police commissioner in March 2021 in the aftermath of the Antilia bomb scare case, Singh, in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, leveled corruption allegations against Deshmukh. “The petitioner alleges that the actions were initiated with a view to give a counter-blast to the outcome of the petitions instituted by the petitioner (seeking CBI probe against Deshmukh). This claim, prima facie, does not hold ground in respect of the action initiated against him on the basis of the complaint of (police inspector) Anup Dange,” the high court said in its order.