Mumbai: The state government has reinstated deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Parag Manere, who was suspended after his name cropped up in two extortion cases along with former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Manere, who is said to be close to Singh, was suspended by the state government in December last year along with Singh at the request of then-director general of police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey. Manere was posted as DCP in Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) when he was suspended.
Venkatesh Bhat, joint secretary in the home department, on August 3 issued the order reinstating the Indian Police Service officer. The order stated that the suspension of Manere was reviewed in a July 14 meeting headed by the additional chief secretary, home, and a recommendation to reinstate Manere was made to the competent authority. Thus, on August 3, he was reinstated in the service, subject to the outcome of the criminal case and the departmental enquiry initiated against him.
Manere is currently posted at Nagpur as additional superintendent of police in the state excise department and has been facing departmental inquiry and criminal investigation in connection with the two FIRs registered against him.
The first FIR against him is filed by police inspector BR Ghadge, who claimed that Singh and three deputy commissioners of police, including Manere, and 29 others pressurised him to drop corruption charges against Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) commissioners and some other government servants. Ghadge, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste community, had alleged in the FIR that as he had refused to follow Singh’s illegal orders to benefit some accused in the criminal case, Singh conspired with others and got three extortion and corruption cases registered against him between August 23 and September 3, 2015.
Ghadge claimed that the accused policemen falsely implicated him in these cases to harass him. The case was filed in April 2021 and after Thane police and the state CID, now the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The second FIR against Manere and Singh was registered on July 23, 2021, at Kopri police station on the complaint of Sharad Murlidhar Agarwal, who claimed that in 2016, when Bhayander developer Shyamsunder Agrawal (and Sharad’s uncle) was in jail, builder Sanjay Punamiya and his associate Sunil Jain allegedly demanded money from Sharad by claiming that Parambir Singh was Punamiya’s friend and he would falsely implicate his uncle if the money wasn’t paid. This meeting was held at Singh’s residence and DCP Parag Manere was also reportedly present in the meeting, according to the complaint. A sum of ₹9 crore was allegedly collected by the accused, including Singh, Punamiya, Jain, Manere and Manoj Ghotkar. This case too was transferred to CBI for further investigation.