Mumbai, Aug 25 (PTI) An inquiry commission headed by a retired high court judge on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh for not appearing before it, a government lawyer said.

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The commission slapped a fine on Singh for the second time within a week and for the third time so far for his failure to appear before it despite being summoned multiple times.

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The Maharashtra government had in March this year formed a one-member commission of Justice (retd) Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal to conduct a probe into corruption allegations levelled by Singh against the then state home minister Anil Deshmukh.

On August 18, the commission had asked Singh to pay a similar amount of fine for not appearing before it, while in June, the senior IPS officer was ordered to pay Rs 5,000 fine for the same reason.

The amount was to be deposited in the Chief Minister's COVID-19 Relief Fund.

The government lawyer said that Singh is yet to pay any of the fines.

Days after he was shunted out as Mumbai police chief and transferred to the Home Guards in March this year, Singh had claimed in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that Deshmukh used to ask police officers to collect money from the owners of restaurants and bars in Mumbai.

Deshmukh, an NCP leader, has been denying the allegations. However, he stepped down as the home minister in April.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are probing the allegations made against Deshmukh by Singh.

The commission has posted the matter for further hearing on August 30.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)