Anil Deshmukh in hot water; Bombay HC won't quash corruption FIR or remove 2 key paras

In yet another setback for former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, the Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed his writ petition challenging the entire FIR against him alleging bribery, corruption and criminal conspiracy. The bench also dismissed the Maharashtra government’s plea seeking to set aside two “unnumbered paragraphs” from the FIR registered against Deshmukh on April 21 and other unknown persons.

In his plea, the NCP leader had claimed that the FIRs were ‘arbitrary, illegal and malafide to besmirch’ his position without any incriminating material.

“The CBI can legitimately investigate transfers and posting connected to Anil Deshmukh and his associates, keeping in view the observation made in the Division Bench April 5 order,” the bench stated in its order.

On April 5, a division bench of HC led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta had termed the case to be “unprecedented,” and ordered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) into Deshmukh's actions, based on a complaint by lawyer Jaishri Patil. Her complaints referred to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s March 20 letter to Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, accusing Deshmukh and others of corruption, following his transfer. Hours after the Bombay HC order, Deshmukh resigned from his position as state home minister.

Three days after being removed as Mumbai CP and posted to the Maharashtra Home Guards, Param Bir Singh wrote a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in March alleging that Deshmukh asked disgraced and sacked inspector Sachin Vaze to extort Rs 100 crore every month from 1,750 bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

Bombay HC upholds CBI enquiry

After completion of the preliminary enquiry, the CBI registered an FIR against Deshmukh and unknown others. The state government moved a plea challenging some sections of the FIR on April 30, while Deshmukh moved the High Court against the entire FIR on May 3.

One of the paragraphs from the FIR objected by the Maharashtra government states that “the CBI in its investigation has found that Deshmukh was aware of the reinstatement of assistant police inspector (API) Sachin Vaze into the force after 15 years and that sensitive cases were being given to Vaze for investigation.”

The suspended API is currently being probed by the NIA for his alleged role in the Antilia bomb scare case and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiren and is lodged in Taloja jail.

The second “unnumbered paragraph” stated that Deshmukh and others exercised “undue influence” over the transfer and postings of police officers in the force. The state government said that inserting the two paragraphs was aimed at enabling the opposition parties to destabilize the MVA government in Maharashtra.

Denying allegations in both the pleas, the CBI sought their dismissals claiming that the probe was carried out as per the April 5 order and therefore prior approvals of state were not needed and a holistic investigation was required to unearth the large scale corruption to instil ‘public confidence’.