Businessman files extortion complaint against ex-Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh

Yet another complaint has been filed against former Mumbai police commissioner and suspended IPS officer Param Bir Singh. A businessman, who has fled to the US, has alleged that Singh and IAS officer Radhey Shyam Mopalwar framed him in a MCOCA case to extort money from him. Anil Vedmehta has filed the complaint at Santacruz police station through his lawyer.

MOPALWAR heads the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). Vedmehta's lawyer Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh said Mopalwar connived with Singh to implicate his client through a case registered against him with the Kalwa police in 2017. It was Singh who gave the nod to invoke the stringent Maharashtra Crime Organised Control Act (MCOCA) against Vedmehta, said Khan.

Param Bir Singh faces 4 FIRs and an inquiry by the Anti-Corruption Bureau

In the 2017 Kalwa case, encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, who then headed the Thane police's anti-extortion cell, arrested a private detective named Satish Mangale, his wife and Marathi film actress Shraddha Mangale and one Atul Tawde for allegedly extorting R7 crore from Mopalwar. While Vedmehta was shown as an accused, he fled to California.

‘Was afraid of powerful people'

In his complaint to the Santacruz police on March 4, Vedmehta has alleged that there was a threat to his life and that a vehicle rammed into his Audi car near JW Marriott hotel in 2017 assuming that he was inside. But by that time, he had already reached California, he said.

Speaking to mid-day through Khan, Vedmehta said, "I am speaking now because I was afraid of the powerful people involved. I plucked up the courage when everyone was exposed after Param Bir Singh was removed from power and Pradeep Sharma got arrested and Ravi Pujari was behind bars, too."

Anil Vedmehta, who is in California

"Mopalwar is misusing his bureaucratic powers. Being an IAS officer hand in glove with Param Bir Singh and Pradeep Sharma, they framed innocent people in MCOCA cases to extort money from them or fulfil their other unwarranted demands by giving dummy calls of threat to life using the name of dreaded gangster Ravi Pujari.." he said.

According to Vedmehta, Mangale had worked as a detective for Mopalwar to help the IAS officer divorce his wife Manisha. Mopalwar allegedly then married Vedmehta's wife Priyanka Vedmehta. The complainant said Mopalwar had collected Rs 60 lakh from him in 2010, and started dating Priyanka. He later allegedly framed Vedmehta in a domestic violence case and got him arrested in 2011, said Khan.

Mopalwar had allegedly got the complainant arrested in a false case in 2011

‘I am not an absconder'

When being asked why he is absconding when a court has issued a proclamation order against him, Vedmehta said, "I was never absconding, I went to California for medical treatment. Within two days of my arrival here, I learnt about the FIR against me the accident involving my car in Juhu. I regularly emailed complaints to the police and the officers concerned informing them about my innocence and whereabouts, but I never received a reply.

He also said that he got stuck in the US due to COVId. When asked why Mopalwar is trying to frame him, Khan said, "Mopalwar was afraid of getting exposed and in his bid to extort money, he framed him [Vedmehta] in a false case."

Khan that the alleged dummy call made by Ravi Pujari has no mention of Anil Vedmehta as per the first informant's statement. "Moreover, Anil has not more than one charge sheet on his name nor is he a member of any crime syndicate. Then how can MCOCA be invoked? He is a reputed business professional and a taxpayer of this country."

4
No. of FIRs against Singh