NEW DELHI: Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday dismissed as “false” the allegations of corruption levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and said he will file a defamation suit against the IPS officer.
Deshmukh’s counter comes just hours after Singh’s explosive letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray surfaced, in which he accused the state home minister of “several misdeeds and malpractices”.

“This is a conspiracy hatched by Param Bir Singh to derail the investigation into the explosives case and the suspicious death of Mansukh Hiren,” Deshmukh said, requesting chief minister Thackeray to order an impartial inquiry into the allegation.
The senior NCP leader said that Singh made the allegations as part of a conspiracy to defame him and the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra as he wanted to “defend himself”.
“Why was he quiet for so many days after Sachin Waze was arrested? Why didn’t he speak earlier,” Deshmukh asked.
Deshmukh further challenged Singh to prove his allegations and said he is planning to sue him.

In his eight-page letter to Thackeray, Singh alleged that Deshmukh used to order his colleagues to collect money from bars and restaurants and had given them a target of Rs 100 crore each month.
The former Mumbai top cop said he was made a “scapegoat” for “extraneous and vindictive reasons”.
Earlier this week, Singh was shunted out as Mumbai police commissioner for alleged mishandling of the case involving an explosives-laden SUV found near industralist Mukesh Ambani‘s residence.
A day later, Deshmukh said the state government ordered Singh’s transfer since some of his colleagues committed “serious and unforgivable mistakes”.
He said that Singh was shifted to ensure that the probe into Sachin Vaze episode is conducted “properly and without hindrance”.
Vaze is the police officer, now suspended, at the centre of the case involving planting of a car loaded with explosives near Ambani’s Mumbai residence Antilia. He has been arrested by the NIA.
Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the Scorpio, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on March 5.
Hiran’s wife accused Vaze of involvement in her husband’s suspicious death.