Bombay HC orders CBI probe into allegations made by Param Bir Singh against Anil Deshmukh

On Monday The Bombay high court ordered CBI to commence investigation into the corruption allegations made by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. The court asked CBI to start a prior inquiry in agreement with law and asked the bureau to complete the investigation within 15 days. While hearing the petition, a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said that Anil Deshmukh is the Home Minister and no unfair probe can be done by the police. The bench was presiding over three public interest legal actions, including one filed by Singh himself, another by city-based lawyer Jayshree Patil, and the third by teacher Mohan Bhide, seeking various reliefs. On March 25, Param Bir filed a criminal public interest litigation seeking a CBI inquiry against Deshmukh. According to his appeal, Deshmukh had asked police officers, including suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze who has been arrested in the case of bomb scare at industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence here, to collect Rs 100 crore each month from bars and restaurants. The plea also alleged, corruption in police transfers and postings and political interference in probes. The court had reserved its order on March 31 on the issue of maintainability of the PIL filed by Param Bir’s lawyer Jaishri Patil and Ghanshyam Upadhyay. The Maharashtra government’s lawyer argued that the petition was not maintainable as Singh had vested interests and the petition was a result of his transfer from the post of Mumbai police commissioner to the low-key Homes Guards.