Paramvir Singh has always been a police officer embroiled in controversy. He has been accused of gangster-like extortion through his subordinates. He has even been implicated in the Hiren Sukh Mandviya murder case, including having his police force plant a bomb in a car near Antilia, the home of the renowned industrialist Ambani. It’s a different matter that Paramvir Singh wasn’t directly named in the NIA FIR, but his involvement began to emerge during the investigation. He was even suspended for some of these allegations. There were even talks of him fleeing the country to avoid jail time. Despite all this, he ultimately never served time on any charges. Not only did he avoid jail time, he also had his suspension revoked and retired with a full-time job.
Some of these allegations were leveled against Paramvir Singh when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and some were leveled when Devendra Fadnavis was or is the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. These allegations were leveled against Devendra Fadnavis even when Eknath Shinde was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and an investigation was underway.
But no Chief Minister or government had any control over Paramvir Singh’s corrupt practices. During Uddhav Thackeray’s tenure as Chief Minister, whenever public pressure mounted regarding the Antilia bombing, he removed Paramvir Singh from office. Subsequently, when the issue of extortion by Paramvir Singh and the police under him, modeled after a gangster gang, gained significant traction, the government under Uddhav Thackeray’s Chief Minister approved his suspension. Despite this, no major action was taken against Paramvir Singh during Thackeray’s tenure as Chief Minister. It is said that Uddhav Thackeray secretly harbored a fondness for Paramveer Singh.
Following this, when the power shift in Maharashtra took place, the Shiv Sena split, and instead of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, a coalition government was formed between the BJP and Eknath Shinde, with the support of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis the Deputy Chief Minister. Far from taking action on the allegations against Paramveer Singh, the Eknath Shinde-led government acquitted him of all charges, revoked his suspension, and rewarded him by treating the suspension period as on duty.
Now, when it comes to taking action on the allegations against Paramveer Singh during Devendra Fadnavis’s tenure as Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis too appears to be kind to Paramveer Singh. Devendra Fadnavis may not have been the Chief Minister when the Disha Salian murder case was registered on June 8, 2020, but when, based on the Bombay High Court’s decision, the Disha Salian murder case was transferred from the Mumbai Police to the CBI, Devendra Fadnavis was in the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s chair and he continues to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. But now, when Paramveer Singh has been named as an accused in the FIR filed by Disha Salian’s father, Satish Salian, with the CBI, Devendra Fadnavis’s kind gaze remains on Paramveer Singh.
Technically, the CBI is a central investigating agency. However, as a Chief Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main party in the NDA coalition government at the Centre, and given his close ties to Amit Shah, rumours persist that he is using his influence to lobby Union Home Minister Amit Shah to grant Paramveer Singh relief in the CBI case. The veracity of this rumour is questionable, meaning it could be both true and false. However, the fact that the CBI has not taken any major action against Paramveer Singh, despite him being a named accused and the case being transferred to the CBI two months from now, seems to bring the rumour closer to the truth. Furthermore, when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated, regarding the Mumbai High Court’s order to take the case away from the Mumbai Police and hand it over to the CBI, that the Mumbai Police was investigating in the right direction and that the case was transferred to the CBI on technical grounds, this also seems to confirm this rumour. In this way, Devendra Fadnavis appears to be shielding Paramvir Singh, as the Mumbai Police, in their investigation, considered him uninvolved in the case. Furthermore, on October 29, 2026, Devendra Fadnavis attempted to disprove this rumour by sharing the stage with Uddhav Thackeray, the named accused in the Disha Salian case, where he held a secret closed-door meeting with Thackeray and did not make the meeting public.
Politicians like the Chief Minister are not simply shielding former Mumbai Police Commissioner Paramvir Singh, who has been accused of various corruption charges. Paramvir Singh himself had repeatedly protected him during his tenure when he faced corruption and other serious charges, and continues to do so using his former influence and cunning.
An incident related to Paramvir Singh’s contribution in shielding prominent politicians from corruption charges is reported by Ajit Pawar.
The case is linked to Ajit Pawar, the former Deputy Chief Minister and Irrigation Minister of Maharashtra. As Irrigation Minister, Ajit Pawar was accused of a ₹72,000 crore scam. During the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised this scam in his speeches, calling for Ajit Pawar’s imprisonment. Devendra Fadnavis used phrases like “mill grinding mill grinding.” The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won a majority in this election. However, during the government formation process, the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government failed to form when Uddhav Thackeray insisted on becoming Chief Minister, claiming that Amit Shah had promised him in a closed-door meeting before the elections that he would be made Chief Minister if the alliance won. Devendra Fadnavis, along with Ajit Pawar, hastily woken the Governor at 6:00 a.m. and formed a government with Fadnavis as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister. At this time, Ajit Pawar’s uncle and Shiv Sena chief Sharad Pawar also criticized Ajit Pawar’s scam. However, this government lasted only 80 hours, and later, the Mahayuti coalition government was formed under the Chief Ministership of Uddhav Thackeray.
During this government led by Uddhav Thackeray, Param Bir Singh was the Director General of the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau. He then obliged Ajit Pawar by giving him a clean chit in the ₹72,000 crore irrigation scam.
While serving as Director General of the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Parambir Singh filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court in December 2019. In this affidavit, he gave a clean chit to Ajit Pawar in the ₹72,000 crore Vidarbha irrigation scam.
The ACB, led by Parambir Singh, told the court that Ajit Pawar, the then Water Resources Minister and Chairman of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), could not be held legally responsible for the alleged irregularities in irrigation projects and tender allocations.
This affidavit directly denied Ajit Pawar’s role, thereby exonerating him as well as several then departmental officials associated with the VIDC and Irrigation Department, and regional level leaders who were part of the entire process and tender allocations.