Maharashtra moves SC against Bombay HC order asking CBI to probe Anil Deshmukh

The Maharashtra government has moved the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court order, which asked the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the corruption charges made against the now-resigned Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Deshmukh, who resigned after the high court passed the order against him, has also separately moved the top court.

Singh, after he was removed as the city police commissioner, had accused Deshmukh of running an extortion racket, a charge he has denied. The allegation had come in as a major embarrassment to the ruling Shiv Sena-NCPCongress alliance in the state. The high court on Monday ordered the CBI to conduct the preliminary enquiry within 15 days and decide on whether to file an FIR over it. It ruled that an unbiased probe was required to get to the truth. The HC had made observations to the effect that the charges levelled by the former top cop were of serious nature and prima facie involved faith of the public in the functioning of the police force.

The bench had also alluded to the fact that Deshmukh was in charge of the home portfolio to claim that the police, who reported to him, cannot be expected to conduct a free and impartial probe against the minister. Deshmukh resigned within hours of the court order. Singh had earlier directly gone to the top court seeking relief in the case, but Chief Justice of India SA Bobde had rejected the plea and insisted that he first approach the high court for relief.