Maharashtra approaches SC challenging Bombay HC order for CBI probe

 

The Maharashtra government approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the Bombay High Court’s order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to carry out preliminary probe into former Mumbai Police Chief Param Bir Singh’s allegations against ex-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

 

Terming the case as ‘extraordinary and unprecedented’, the High Court had asked the CBI to complete the probe within 15 days, after which the CBI director is at liberty to take further course of action.

 

Three days after he was removed as Mumbai Police Commissioner and posted to the Home Guards, Singh wrote an eight-page letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleging that Deshmukh asked how suspended and arrested assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month, including Rs 40-50 crore from 1,750 bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

 

The HC passed the ruling on criminal PIL by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, seeking a CBI probe against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for alleged malpractices along with other two PILs seeking an independent probe.

 

Following the High Court’s order, Anil Deshmukh had tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.