Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, embroiled with Republic Network’s Arnab Goswami on TRP scam, has now been accused by the BJP Lok Sabha member from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragya.
In her exclusive interview to Republic Media Network’s editor Arnab Goswami on Wednesday, Sadhvi Pragya elaborated on the horrific torture that she suffered while being in the custody of Maharashtra police.
She claimed that she was forced to sit on a wired bed and was continuously beaten by a belt by several officers including the commissioner, Param Bir Singh. She said Param Bir Singh hit her with belt repeatedly.
“The torture which was inflicted on me was done with the cognizance of Hemant Karkare and by Param Bir Singh himself. When I was taken to Kala chowki police station, they started torturing me with asking any questions, stating no reasons. Param Bir Singh was there along with several other inspectors – Awhad, Khambilkar, Suvarna Shinde who encircled me and beat me together,” she said.
Not only this, she said that he is a conspirator and continued his inhumane physical torture until she collapsed.
She added, “First I was beaten while standing, then I was made to sit on a wired bed and beaten with a belt on my soles, hurting me unmeasurably. After hitting me so much, he (Param Bir Singh) is unsatisfied and he snatches the belt of some officers and says ‘you have no strength, I will take care of this’. Cursing at me with bad words, he hit me using his complete strength. If I call him a devil also, it is less. He is a conspirator and keeping him at such a high post can be part of a political conspiracy.”
Besides Mumbai Police Commissioner, she also named several other police inspectors including Awhad, Khambilkar, and Suvarna Shinde who were also part of the investigation of the Malegaon blast case.
“He asked me so many horrible questions, cursed at me. Whenever my lawyer came to record my relatives’ statement, he used to tell ‘do not sign on it, otherwise, I will see you’, stopping them from signing on it. My head was banged against a wall, multiple times a day. I was lowered from the roof onto a tree, there are so many things which I do not remember. I am writing all of this in my book. I am saying all this because till this man is a part of Maharashtra police, there will be no justice in Maharashtra,” she said.
Sadhvi Pragya is one among seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, in which six people were killed and several others were injured when a bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded in Maharashtra’s Malegaon. The ATS team arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra, Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu, serving Army officer – Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, and others.