Bombay high court to hear Maharashtra’s plea against CBI FIR in Anil Deshmukh case – Hindustan Times

The Bombay high court will on Tuesday take up for hearing a petition filed by the Maharashtra government seeking to drop two topics from the purview of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the corruption charges against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

The high court had asked the investigating agency to not take action till the next hearing.

The earlier hearing was adjourned on May 27 after the CBI demanded hearing of the plea by the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, which ordered a preliminary inquiry in the matter on April 5.

The hearing is expected to take place at 10.30am by the bench headed by Justice Datta.

The Maharashtra government’s petition seeks to quash two paragraphs in CBI’s FIR, in which the agency has sought communication about the reinstatement of Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze and alleged undue influence over the transfer of police officers by the home department.

“The April 5 order of Bombay High Court had not mandated this matter to be investigated, so, in these circumstances investigating a matter which is not mandated by HC or a prior consent of state is not taken before investigating, this is an illegal act as per law,” the plea stated.

In the previous hearing on May 21, the state had objected to the scope of the investigation by CBI saying these issues had nothing to do with the allegations made by Singh against Deshmukh. It also said that CBI had not followed procedure and had gone beyond the norms laid down in its manual of taking prior approval of the state.

The CBI had initiated a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Deshmukh on the high court’s order on April 5. The order was given by the court on the allegations of corruption made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh against Deshmukh.

Singh, in his letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had alleged that Deshmukh had indulged in “malpractices” and asked Vaze to collect ₹100 crore every month. Vaze for initially suspended, and then dismissed from service last mo

Deshmukh had resigned from his post after the Bombay high court directed the CBI to initiate an enquiry within 15 days into allegations levelled against him by Singh.